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Town Talking to Keeper Cornell
Thursday, 13th Aug 2020 17:22

TWTD understands the Blues are in talks with free agent former Northampton keeper David Cornell.

The Blues are short of a senior number one with loanee Will Norris having returned to parent club Wolves at the end of last season.

Ex-Bolton man Remi Matthews was training with the squad until the end of last week but is believed to be looking for a Championship club today.

Cornell, 29, was initially mentioned in connection with the Blues in December, again in January and more recently July with a host of other clubs said to have been monitoring his situation.

The Blues have now firmed up their interest in the Welshman, who left the Cobblers at the end of the season having rebuffed the offer of a new contract, and talks regarding terms are under way with the keeper having been at the club today.

Born in Waunarlwydd, Cornell started his career at Swansea during which time he had spells on loan at Port Talbot, Hereford, St Mirren and Portsmouth before moving on to Oldham in the summer of July 2015 having made only one League Cup appearance for the Swans.

In June 2016 he joined Northampton and went on to make 107 starts and one sub appearance while at Sixfields, helping them to win promotion to League One via the play-offs last season.

The 6ft 2in tall keeper was reportedly close to a first Wales call-up last season having won caps at U17, U19 and U21 levels.

Asked about the Blues’ interest in Cornell in July, general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill said: “I’m not going to through individual players, it’s not fair. We get linked with everyone, we honestly do.

“Cornell had a great season at Northampton, he’s a player we’re aware of 100 per cent, we know about him.

“At the moment though we’re trying to look at our own options, we’ve got Tomas Holy, who is itching to get back in and play games for us, and we’ve got two young goalkeepers [Adam Przybek and Harry Wright] that we’re currently looking at and we’re assessing where they’re at.

“It would be unfair to say we’re commenting on this or looking at bringing in another goalkeeper at this moment in time when we’ve got three that we’re assessing.”

Holy, 28, is currently the only experienced keeper at the club with Przybek, 20, who signed from West Brom last summer, having made one Leasing.com Trophy appearance and Wright, 21, yet to make his first-team bow.

It's possible Cornell and left-back Stephen Ward, who TWTD revealed earlier this afternoon is also in talks with the Blues about a deal, could feature for Town in what's now their first pre-season friendly at Colchester next Tuesday.

Elsewhere, former Town striker Kieffer Moore, 28, has joined Cardiff City from Wigan Athletic for a fee understood to be £2 million.

Six clubs, Middlesbrough and QPR among, them had also agreed a fee with the in-administration Latics.


Photo: Action Images



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AlexGreen added 17:25 - Aug 13
I thought that seemed short for a keeper but it says he's 6' 2'' on Wikipedia?
1

BettyBlue added 17:27 - Aug 13
As per usual we start with signing back-ups to our own ineffectual players.

If you're not going to sign real players admit it and take your money and Lambert
and clear off.
-9

Terry_Nutkins added 17:29 - Aug 13
Someone please confirm his height haha. He's down as 3 different heights online....surely he's taller than 5'11.
1

Bergholt_Blue added 17:29 - Aug 13
Cobblers........ No it's true
1

boroughblue added 17:31 - Aug 13
I may be the only one who feels this way, so feel free to shoot me down if I'm wrong. But I'm more then happy with keeping Holy as our first choice keepers with one of the youngsters to back him up when needed. Pryzebek (not how its spelt I know, apologies) proved his worth as backup in the cup Vs Peterborough.

I'm not a fan of this rotating keepers all the time business, feel like Holy was unfairly overlooked for big parts of last season, and is more then capable of holding his own as first choice. I feel like theres no need to waste wages on an 'equally' as good keeper to rotate with him, especially with the wage cap...


Having said that, this lad is rumoured to be fairly good, so if we do go down the rotation route again, I'll settle for him.

I fail to see how this follows the so called' 5 point plan' by signing this lad who's 29, and Ward who is 34, but what do I know. Just my 50 pence worth, I don't manage a football club and have a 5 year contract
12

ArnieM added 17:34 - Aug 13
Whoever Lambert gets in as a GK he HAS to make a decision as to who is #1 and stick with them until injury or lack of form forces a change . You cannot rotate the GK position . That'd be a mental approach .........
10

arc added 17:37 - Aug 13
Like others, I am puzzled by this one: Holy seems adequate, and we have at least two youngsters to push for playing time. It's bad news for Wright at least–if he's not ready to be the #2 at age 21 then I doubt he's going to make it, which is sad.
6

Chrisd added 17:40 - Aug 13
Not sure what message this sends out to Holy? If we do sign him, he's not coming here to just play second fiddle and sit on our bench. Is this not going to create problems ala last season?
5

mojo added 17:45 - Aug 13
It is the risk you take. A major injury to Holy and it would be a lot to ask of 2 young keepers to play comtinudl firzt team football. It could scupper any promotion push certainly. You just know if we didn't bring another keeper in Holy would pick up an injury.
3

Suffolkboy added 17:53 - Aug 13
I'd hazard @ guess that PL and LO'N will be thoroughly in agreement about the course ahead ,and the recruitment policy and strategy – so any signings will fit the agreed pattern .
COYB
0

SheptonMalletBlue added 17:53 - Aug 13
He's 7' 6"
1

blues1 added 17:59 - Aug 13
Its simple. We need 2 experienced keepers. Dont think it's likely theyd be rotated like last season, but will compete for a place in the team. A big reason for the rotation last season was a clause in Norris's loan deal, that if he didnt play, wed have to pay wolves more money. Really dint 5think it would be right or fair to put the pressure on the young keepers, should Holy get a bad injury, to come in, with how important it is for us to get promoted this next season. Would much rather have an experienced keeper to take his place.
1

hadleighboyblue added 18:00 - Aug 13
So the manager has learnt from his mistakes last year has he ? isn't he just creating the same situation with 2 keepers expecting to be playing as 1st choice . What message does that give to Holy and the other 2 keepers already here . If the 2 are not ready to play if called on , why are we keeping them on the books , they are not promising 16 year olds any more .
With money tight , there are other positions that need stregthening first
3

Radlett_blue added 18:01 - Aug 13
Well, at least it isn't a loan!
0

Bert added 18:23 - Aug 13
We need two decent keepers so I hope this happens. Goalkeepers get knocks and have dips in form like outfield players so we need what I would call two no 1's. If we don't take him it would be a missed opportunity. For added spice isn't Northampton now a local derby for us ?


0

aas1010 added 18:57 - Aug 13
Seem to be returning to oap fc again why ??
0

Len_Brennan added 19:00 - Aug 13
We need to have 2 capable players for every position; nowhere is this more necessary than goalkeeper, where you rarely can slot someone in as cover for a few games & nobody really notices. Goalkeeper & left back are the glaring in their lack of experienced cover now, so this makes sense. We need a new centre forward, one better than what we have, but at least we have 3 senior strikers on our books and additional options to play just behind a striker, or wide of a central striker, if we go with other formations.
If Holy & Kenlock got long term injuries after the transfer window shuts, we would be in serious trouble until January, hoping that the youngsters can step in immediately; that's a lot of pressure.
2

PhilTWTD added 19:32 - Aug 13
AlexGreen

Checked the height and does seem some inconsistency but 6ft 2 looks lost convincing. Wrote that bit of the story in December and hadn't really noticed it when repeating it!
1

planetblue_2011 added 20:31 - Aug 13
Don't get why we are signing another keeper. Holy seems more than capable in league one anyway.
He just needs a good run of games, than keep changing him!!
0

Cakeman added 20:50 - Aug 13
If he's that good why did Northampton release him?
2

mojo added 20:56 - Aug 13
Cakeman - I think he turned down a contract offer
2

billlm added 21:05 - Aug 13
Cakeman, he was out of contract and wouldn't sign a new one, they also dropped him for their remaining games and play offs, for the same reason, but he was their number one up until that point so a big influence on their season,
2

Westy added 21:12 - Aug 13
How can anyone describe Will Norris as a senior keeper. He was a disaster. Hope any new signings don't jeopardise Holy's place like they did last season.
3

algarvefan added 22:20 - Aug 13
Just my two penneth worth, for what it's worth, I think Lambert rotated the keepers last season because Norris was a loanee and had probably been promised game time. I agree Holy is a good enough keeper to be our number 1 and I think the rotation disturbed his confidence a bit. So I'd stick with him as number 1 to start the season at least and give him a good run.
0

Town4me added 23:17 - Aug 13
We really don't need another keeper unless he's notably better than holy. Which he probably isn't.
2


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