Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton has revealed they missed out on a loan deal for Swansea City’s Kyle Joseph due to the Swans’ wage demands.
Oxford United managed to seal a swoop for Joseph earlier this summer.
The youngster striker is out of favour back with parent club Swansea City and the door had opened for him to make a temporary exit, with the U’s swooping in. Now though, Bristol Rovers boss Barton has revealed that they were also keen on striking a deal for the 20-year-old.
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As quoted by Bristol World, Barton said that Swansea City wanted the club to pay £5,500 a week of Joseph’s wages, admitting last weekend’s opponents Oxford United blew them out of the water.
Here’s what he had to say on the matter:
“We’ll have a decent budget but you look at some of the players they’ve got: Brannagan, six or seven grand a week.
“They took (Kyle) Joseph. We were in the market for Joseph and got blown out of the water. They wanted £5,500 a week coverage for him.”
Joseph came on for his debut against the Gas, replacing Matty Taylor on 64 minutes. However, he was unable to help Oxford United claw their way back into the game as John Marquis fired Bristol Rovers to 3rd place.
Another striker still needed?
Bristol Rovers have a solid amount of options that can play at striker. Aaron Collins, Harvey Saunders and Ryan Loft are alongside Marquis as centre-forwards but Collins and Saunders mainly operate out wide, leaving Loft and youngster Harvey Greenslade as the other players through the middle.
Another striker addition would add some more depth to the role and over the course of a gruelling League One campaign, that will be important.
Goals will and have come from the likes of Collins, Saunders and attacking midfielder Antony Evans, but strength in numbers will be vital if the Gas want to maintain their promising start to the season.
