I’m not having much luck with my ‘Scout Reports’ at the moment – players I’d planned to do them on seem to moving clubs left, right and centre (I’m taking that as a sign that I know a good player when I see one)!
Both Chris Burke and Craig Conway (who I was going to suggest as an alternative to Bojan Djordic) have secured moves already this month, Dale Jennings (who I said we should look at a year ago) looks set to join Bayern Munich(!), whilst Craig Mackail-Smith appears to be the subject of a ludicrious bidding war.
Never fear though, I still have a few aces up my sleeve, but tonight I thought I’d preview a player we’ve actually been linked with this month – Barnsley’s Danny Haynes.
Now 23, Haynes signed for Ipswich having been released by Charlton.
He was part of the The Tractor Boys’ youth side that won the FA Youth Cup in 2005, whilst he also became a cult hero at Portman Road by scoring a last-minute winning goal against rivals Norwich in February 2006.
In November 2006 he further enhanced his reputation by scoring a brace against the Canaries, signing a bumper new deal shortly after.
However, despite big things being expected of him, things didn’t really work out for Haynes at Ipswich, although to his credit he did score 17 league goals for the club in just 36 starts (he made a further 79 appearances as a sub).
In July 2009, finding his first team opportunities at Portman Road limited, he moved to Bristol City for around half a million pounds.
However, he failed to settle at Ashton Gate (as many strikers do to be honest) and in January of this year he moved to Barnsley for around £250,000.
Haynes has enjoyed a little bit more success at Oakwell, becoming a regular and bagging 6 goals in 20 league starts.
Danny fits our bill of signing young(er) players (some of whom haven’t fulfilled their potential) and polishing them up.
Although primarily a striker, he can also play on the right flank, meaning that he would suit our system well.
He’s also got a superb turn of pace, and on his day is capable of turning defences inside out.
Whilst Barnsley insist that they don’t want to sell the player, the Yorkshire club are known to be hard-up and may be susceptible to bids, especially if they want to strengthen the team in other areas.
However, wages may be an issue – Haynes is thought to be on a decent amount at Oakwell, an amount that we may struggle/not wish to better given the fact that at present he presumably would not be a regular starter taking into account our options in attack, especially on the right.
However, should DJ Campbell move on as has been rumoured, signing Haynes may go someway towards replacing him.
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