[h=3]Jones: We missed out on Blackstock for non-football reasons[/h]5:00am Saturday 26th October 2013 in Albion By Andy Naylor
Dexter Blackstock has joined Leeds on loan despite all Albion's efforts
Albion's failure to land Dexter Blackstock has been blamed on non-footballing reasons.
Assistant head coach Nathan Jones says the Seagulls did everything within their power to complete a loan deal for the Nottingham Forest striker.
Albion were confident they had captured Blackstock when they drew 0-0 at Yeovil last weekend.
The 27-year-old decided instead to make the shorter journey from Nottingham to Championship rivals Leeds United and has been added to their squad for today’s Yorkshire derby at Huddersfield.
Jones told The Argus: “We thought we had an unbelievable chance, then things happened for reasons that weren’t really football related.
“He made a different choice. That happens, you miss out on players, no problem.
“But we did everything we possibly could to try to put the deal through, it just didn’t really work out in the end.
“We are actively trying but we identified him a number of weeks ago. We had been trying for a number of weeks to get him in.
“It’s just something he had to wait for, then we thought we were going to get the deal done.
“We thought we were going to get the deal done for last Saturday and then suddenly it’s not at all.”
Ashley Barnes and Leroy Lita are the only senior strikers available to head coach Oscar Garcia for Monday night’s home game against Watford.
Lita made his debut on loan from Swansea at Yeovil as a second-half replacement for Barnes, who has not scored in the Championship since April.
Original article
Albion's failure to land Dexter Blackstock has been blamed on non-footballing reasons.
Assistant head coach Nathan Jones says the Seagulls did everything within their power to complete a loan deal for the Nottingham Forest striker.
Albion were confident they had captured Blackstock when they drew 0-0 at Yeovil last weekend.
The 27-year-old decided instead to make the shorter journey from Nottingham to Championship rivals Leeds United and has been added to their squad for today’s Yorkshire derby at Huddersfield.
Jones told The Argus: “We thought we had an unbelievable chance, then things happened for reasons that weren’t really football related.
“He made a different choice. That happens, you miss out on players, no problem.
“But we did everything we possibly could to try to put the deal through, it just didn’t really work out in the end.
“We are actively trying but we identified him a number of weeks ago. We had been trying for a number of weeks to get him in.
“It’s just something he had to wait for, then we thought we were going to get the deal done.
“We thought we were going to get the deal done for last Saturday and then suddenly it’s not at all.”
Ashley Barnes and Leroy Lita are the only senior strikers available to head coach Oscar Garcia for Monday night’s home game against Watford.
Lita made his debut on loan from Swansea at Yeovil as a second-half replacement for Barnes, who has not scored in the Championship since April.
Original article