Source: Telegraph
Birmingham City confident of signing Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko
Birmingham City have estimated that, if they secured Pavlyuchenko on the desired 3½-year contract, he would end up costing them £23 million. Tottenham Hotspur have asked for £10 million with a further £3 million in add-ons, but Pavluychenko would also expect a considerable signing on fee, and wages of over £45,000 a week. [LNB]Although Birmingham owner Carson Yeung likes the striker, the club feels that spending such an amount on a player who has had minimal first team opportunities would be reckless, and have responded with a revised offer. [LNB]Birmingham, like the striker's representatives, remain confident that a middle ground can be found, but they are adamant that they will not be held to ransom over the price. Clearly, they are not in a relegation battle, and although they are keen to add to their squad, they do not need to spend to survive. [LNB]While negotiations continued with Tottenham and Pavlyuchenko's representatives on Thursday, members of the Birmingham board met with Alex McLeish at the club's Wast Hills training ground to go over further targets. [LNB]It is understood that they have earmarked two additional strikers in the event that an agreement cannot be reached with Tottenham. [LNB]McLeish said: 'I would certainly take Pavlyuchenko. But I don't know whether we could afford him and whether we could take that step, which is a big one for us to go for a player of that ilk. Certainly if the wages were not too outrageous then that would be something that would be reasonably attractive. He is a great player.'[LNB]
