That'll be £400k for the bearded old git's wine cellar fund then :-)
Not exactly in the Glazer league is he?
Sheffield United decide to cash in on Kilgallon - and Leeds United also
benefit
Published Date: 22 January 2010
By Ian Appleyard
SHEFFIELD United defender Matthew Kilgallon last night completed a £2m
switch to Sunderland leaving manager Kevin Blackwell in a race against
time to offset his departure as he looks to mastermind a promotion push.
Kilgallon travelled north for a medical yesterday afternoon and his exit
leaves a major hole to fill in the Blades' defence.
Former Doncaster Rovers defender Matthew Mills, who was sold to Reading
for £2m five months ago, is high on Blackwell's wanted list but there
are only 10 days remaining before the transfer window closes.
Uncertainty over Kilgallon's future had continued for several months
after it was revealed that the former Leeds United defender had rejected
the offer to sign a new deal at Bramall Lane.
Newcastle United and Burnley both submitted £1.5m bids for the
26-year-old while Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers also made enquiries.
Kilgallon was prepared to stay with the Blades until his contract
expired next summer but, due to financial pressures, the Blades have
opted to cash in now rather than run the risk of losing him on a free
transfer.
Blackwell said: "As a manager, you always worry whether a player who has
got six months left on his contract will give you all that he has got.
There has been significant interest in Matthew and the kid had to make a
decision.
"Yes, the club could have said 'you're definitely not going anywhere'
but do you keep a player who is unhappy at a club for six months? That
was the dilemma."
Although Blackwell recently signed Dutch centre-back Marcel Seip on loan
from Plymouth Argyle, the Blades manager expects funds from Kilgallon's
sale to be made available for further strengthening.
"We have been looking around and trying to unearth a centreback that is
worthy of coming to the club," he admitted. "Over the last seven or
eight years, we have always been pushing for promotion or in the Premier
League and it is proving difficult to get the quality of centre-half
that we need.
"There is a dearth of centreback talent at the moment and that is why
four Premier League clubs all enquired about Kilgallon."
Mills, 23, may be allowed to leave Reading who are struggling at the
wrong end of the Championship table and under growing pressure to make
financial cuts.
He would fit the bill as a ready-made replacement for Kilgallon with his
cultured style of play,
Kilgallon, 26, is a former England Under-21 international rated as one
of the best centre-backs outside the top flight.
The York-born defender played 95 times for Leeds before joining the
Blades for £1.75m three years ago.
Under the terms of that deal, Leeds are entitled to 20 per cent of any
sell-on fee of £1m or more which means the Elland Road club stand to bag
£400,000.
United chief executive Trevor Birch said: "Given that Mathew could have
walked away for nothing at the end of the season we were always going to
be under some pressure if a sensible bid was received."
He is ineligible for Sunderland's FA Cup tie at Portsmouth tomorrow.
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