Gardner Close According To Pannu

Blues vice chairman Peter Pannu has said that an agreeable deal between both clubs for Craig Gardner is pretty close.

A story in ESPN indicates that a fee of £3.5 million will be enough to secure the services of the versatile midfielder, and that a deal is close.

Pannu is quoted as saying:

'We are pretty close to a deal, our offer for Craig Gardner is still on the table.'

Now Villa have already turned down a reported £3 million bid, and O'Neill went to lengths to point out how he didn't want Craig to leave.

I can see that much effort going into an extra £500,000 to be honest. I've no doubts a deal will be struck, unfortunately Craig nolonger has a future at the club so it makes no sense whatsoever for him to languish in our reserves but as the article also states that any 'add ons' will still have to be thrashed out, suggests a deal whilst still on the cards, isn't that close at all.

I'd suspect we are holding out for £5 million like we did with Gary Cahill, and we'll see movement around the £4 million mark. However I rarely know what I'm on about so if you see him in a Blues shirt within an hour of me going to bed I wouldn't be surprised.

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