Source: Northern_Echo
Birmingham front runners for Tuncay
BIRMINGHAM CITY have emerged as the favourites to land Tuncay Sanli, but they face a race against time to push through a £5m deal for Middlesbroughs Turkish forward.
Despite interest from Germany, Tuncay wants to stay in England and Birminghams move finally offers him the chance to stay in the Premier League.
Blues boss Alex McLeish is the first to go anywhere near Middlesbroughs valuation, even though there has been plenty of interest, with German clubs Cologne and Stuttgart among the contenders.
Birminghams move has given Boro real food for thought ahead of next Tuesdays deadline and they will be hoping the development sparks a flurry of interest in the next few days.
Aston Villa have previously shown interest, although there was a reluctance to pay the £8m initially asked for a forward Martin ONeill considers to be a luxury player.
Middlesbrough will be interested to see if more suitors emerge and they can finally receive the price they have wanted all summer before Tuesdays 5pm deadline.
Boro boss Gareth Southgate has been waiting for news on the transfer front. Offloading Tuncay and Afonso Alves would allow him to bring in the couple of new players he feels would boost the push for promotion in the Championship.
There has been an offer from Qatari side Al-Saad, thought to be about £7m, for Alves, who could be reconsidering his decision to turn down the chance to move to the Middle East earlier this month.
If more than £12m can be raised by the two sales, Southgate is then likely to increase his interest in Derby Countys £3m-rated striker Rob Hulse and look to add another, thought to be free agent Danny Webber.
It is also understood that Middlesbrough have been offered Sunderlands Daryl Murphy on loan.
Southgate admitted after the Carling Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest that there were a couple of things happening with regard to Alves and Tuncay and now it would seem only a matter of time before the pair finally depart.
Boros promising start to the season has surprised many of the clubs supporters that were critical of Southgates reign throughout the summer.
While the manager still has his doubters, the way the 1,700 supporters chanted his name at the City Ground on Tuesday highlighted the relief being felt among the fans.
Boro are yet to concede a goal in the Championship this season, where they sit second on goal difference with leaders Cardiff City, and defender Andrew Taylor is delighted with how things are shaping up, even if he hopes one area of the team will soon be strengthened.
Its down to the manager to say whether we need a few more bodies in, said Taylor.
Personally I wouldnt mind seeing us get a big striker in, just to add another option.
Even if we dont I think we have more than enough to get us straight back up.
We are creating chances but we have to be putting them away. One of the main things to come out of the Forest match was that when we are on top we have to kill teams off.
Up until my appearance we had not conceded a goal and wed been unbeaten, so Im disappointed with the result at Forest. But that appearance will stand me in good stead for the rest of the season I hope.
Its been different for me.
Jonathan Grounds has been in and done really well. Its hard for me, but hopefully I have given something for the manager to think about.
