Ipswich Town boss Paul Hurst says he sold Joe Garner because of the player’s ‘personal situation’ and says he will now look to sign two loan players before the window shuts at the end of August.
A deal to sell striker Garner, 30, to Championship rivals Wigan Athletic for £1.25m was struck just minutes before the window for permanent deals shut at 5pm on Thursday.
“Joe’s personal situation wasn’t the easiest,” explained Hurst. “I won’t go into too many details with regards to that, it’s nothing that’s going to hit the front pages or anything like that, but it wasn’t ideal for him being at Ipswich Town.
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“Still, as a football club we’ve got to try and look after ourselves. Clearly he’d signed a contract. But I think moving forwards it was the best decision for us.
“Him leaving perhaps now allows us to try and look at the loan market. But we’ve only got a coupe of loans to use, realistically, and we’ve to try and use them well.”
Championship clubs can sign as many loan players as they like, but can only name five in their matchday squad. The Blues have three at present in Trevoh Chalobah, Tayo Edun and Janoi Donacien, the latter signed on a temporary basis until some work permit issues are resolved.
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“Unfortunately, because of Janoi’s situation, we’ve had to take him on loan,” rued Hurst. “It’s the rules, and it is what it is, but it’s very odd. He’s been in the country so long, has been playing football, has moved up a level, has been contributing to society, if you like, and yet we’ve got to wait and find out if he can stay in the country or not.
“I think we need three players in and we’ve only got two loans to use. Ive got to make the decision as to what’s most crucial to the squad overall.”
He continued: “I’ve been in that situation once (having more than five loan players) and I didn’t like it. At times I was leaving players out, one in particular, who didn’t deserve to be left out. Through the week he knows he’s probably going to be the one who’s going to miss out and that’s not fair. It’s wrong.
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“It’s a bit of a waste (to have more than five loans). Unless we get an injury and absolutely need to fill a position then we’ll try to avoid that.” Town made a late deadline day bid for AFC Wimbledon defender Deji Oshilaja that was rebuffed, with Hurst saying: “We were interested, yeah, but a deal couldn’t be done.
“We felt the valuation was too high for a player who is available on a free contract in January. It’s very easy for people to say ‘pay whatever it takes’, but you’ve got to feel like a fair deal has been agreed and we didn’t feel that was the case.”
Asked if that might be a deal that could be revisited in the coming days, Hurst said: “We’ll see. I’m not sure whether a loan deal will be happening there. Let’s see what these next few weeks bring.”
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