Source: Northern_Echo
Bruce planning raid on his former club
STEVE BRUCE is poised to make a transfer raid on his former club with Wigan's Maynor Figueroa and Charles N'Zogbia in his sights.[LNB] But Latics chairman Dave Whelan will drive a hard bargain if Bruce presses his interest for either of the highlyregarded pair.[LNB] Wigan have insisted that £8m-rated Figueroa, who scored a spectacular goal from inside his own half against Stoke City last month, is not for sale and manager Roberto Martinez has confirmed that he is under no pressure to sell his top stars.[LNB] But the Latics proposed £4m move for Sporting Gijon left-back Roberto Canella from could pave the way for Figueroa's exit from the DW Stadium.[LNB] However, Sunderland would face competition from Spurs for the Honduran's signature, with Harry Redknapp keen to land Figureoa a year after he took Wigan's Wilson Palacios to White Hart Lane in a £12m deal.[LNB] Birmingham City have been linked with a move for N'Zogbia who was labelled world class by Martinez following the former Newcastle man's starring role in the Latics' 4-1 FA Cup rout of Hull City last Saturday. Bruce is monitoring the availability of the left-sided player, whom he bought from the Magpies in a £6m deal last January.[LNB] The Sunderland boss has cooled his interest in Tottenham defender Alan Hutton after being quoted a price above his valuation for the versatile defender and could turn to Aston Villa defender Habib Beye.[LNB] The experienced right-back has has struggled to secure a regular spot ahead of Luke Young and Carlos Cuellar, making only five league appearances since joining Martin O'Neill's side from Newcastle last summer.[LNB] At 32, the right-back would consider a move that came with a guarantee of playing first team football.[LNB] In the meantime, Bruce has been boosted by the return to training of Kenwyne Jones, Kieran Richardson and Bolo Zenden, who are all in contention to face Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.[LNB] Jones and Richardson have both been sidelined with calf strains while Zenden has been plagued with persistent hamstring problems since he joined the Wearsiders last October.[LNB] All three have been training indoors with the rest of Bruce's squad as he struggles to prepare for the visit of Bolton.[LNB] Anton Ferdinand also has a slight chance of being fit for the game, but defenders Nyron Nosworthy, John Mensah and the suspended Michael Turner are still out.[LNB] Kenwyne has trained for the past two days and should be available, as should Kieran, while Bolo has trained for the past couple of days and should be also in contention,[LNB] revealed Bruce.[LNB] Anton's touch and go. It's definitely too soon for Andy Reid and John Mensah and I think it probably will be for Lee (Cattermole). Nyron's a real doubt, while Craig Gordon is doing fantastically well and he's back handling the ball again, but he isn't ready to come back.[LNB] It's tough at the moment because of the weather. If I'm honest, I think we've only trained properly once in the past two-and-a-half weeks,[LNB] he said.[LNB] Of course, we use indoor areas and gyms, but it's not ideal. We used the stadium before the game against Barrow and we'll probably look to do the same again ahead of the Bolton game this weekend, but if you take the covers off and there's another heavy snowfall we'll be in trouble.[LNB]
