Through the seasons before us..

An interesting move from Carlisle United has seen them disclose publicly that there is a clause in Joe Garner’s contract that means they would be compelled to accept a bid of £1.14million for the young striker.  This would mean £500k (half the ‘profit’ Carlisle would make on the player) would be payable to Blackburn, £57.5k going to the player himself, with the remaining £592.5k would go into Carlisle’s coffers – giving them a profit of £450k.  Which isn’t bad, really, considering how long they’ve had him.

I’ve read reports that seem to have misinterpreted Carlisle Chief Executive David Allen as saying that a bid of this amount has been lodged for the Forest target, but no matter how I interpret his comments as published, I can’t make it read like that – he’s simply stated that this is the amount at which Carlisle would be forced to do business.  He hasn’t stated that a bid has been received, so sources divining this information from his quotes seem to have missed the mark somewhat.

This also would not, as some comments elsewhere have suggested, mean that any subsequent transfer away from Forest (were we to sign him) would trigger a sell-on clause; that is simply in place between Carlisle and Blackburn, as agreed when the player signed permanently for the Cumbrians.  So there you have it, I think that makes things somewhat clearer!  The fact that Carlisle are announcing this would suggest the player has expressed his desire to leave, prompting his current club to name their price very specifically.

Just over a million pounds is a lot of money for a striker unproven at this level, but he is young and highly rated – and certainly it wouldn’t be the most outrageous signing ever suggested.  Indeed, if people were happy for us to pay £1.5million for Heidur Helgusson then to me just breaching a million for Joe Garner doesn’t seem outrageous; but that’s down to Smoulds and his scouting staff to determine; however it would seem that things are afoot after initial stutters.

It’s a gamble I’d take, I think – and I’m not just saying that because I’m desperate for something to write about either; when we were first linked I did a fair bit of reading up about the youngster, and he does have a great deal to offer – which is exciting, and would give our front line some much needed competition for places.  We shall see, but as far as I’m aware Forest have not yet matched Carlisle’s ‘trigger’ price for Garner.

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