Northampton Town want to bring Daryl Clare to the Sixfields Stadium on a permanent basis. The Republic of Ireland u21 international was on loan at the then Third Division club at the turn of the year, playing 10 times and scoring three goals.

While Clare is described as a striker he is much better playing in the hole behind the strikers. His style of play is reminiscent of the great Ray Houghton. He is always busy and when given a chance to score he usually obliges.

In his time at Northampton, the Jersey-born 21-year-old made a huge impact. In his first game he scored the third and winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Cheltenham. His second goal came against Brighton just after the Seasiders had equalised. Clare went down the other end to regain the lead for Northampton and they went on to win 3-1.

Northampton want to strengthen their squad now that they have won promotion to Division Two. They have offered £50,000 for Clare but their bid was turned down last week and spokesman Bryan Huxford dismissed the Cobblers' offer as a 'derisory one'.

Grimsby boss Ian Atkins would be prepared to let the player go at the asking price of a quarter of million pounds. Northampton haven't got anything like that money - so the chances that the 21-year-old will heading off to the Sixfields on a permanent basis look slim. But the incentive for Atkins to ship players out is now there after the board's decision to let him keep transfer proceeds to spend on new players.

« back to irish abroad stories

« back to main headlines