No really this time! Chris Baird has signed today for a smidge over £3million. This one has been rumbling on and off for a long time. Southampton really didn’t want to sell him, but after they accepted Sunderland’s bid it was inevitable he would move on. All that bid really achieved was to set the price, Fulham matched it and then it was down to the player to decide. Given a choice between working for Roy Keane, who let’s be honest is bound to shout at you in a very scary way at some point in the future, or Lawrie Sanchez, who you know already as your international manager, its not that surprising that we eventually got our man.
Baird is 25 and played most of last season at Centre Back. He won Saint’s Player of the Season award by a country mile and may have also captained the side. He began as a trainee at Southampton and made a total of 79 appearances scoring 3 goals. He has actually played most of his career at Right Back (which is also where he plays for Northern Ireland) and I still remember his outstanding performance in that position for Saint’s in the 2003 F.A. Cup Final. It will be interesting to see where Lawrie intends to play him. I reckon he may well fill the Right Back slot which could see Liam move to cover the Left Back role or not even make the starting eleven.
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