PAUL Jewell has admitted that he tried to sign West Brom striker Simon Cox on a loan deal.

PAUL Jewell has admitted that he tried to sign West Brom striker Simon Cox on a loan deal.

In a bid to try and bolster his strike-force options, Jewell enquired about the possibility of the 23-year-old ex-Swindon Town front-runner moving to Portman Road.

But Cox himself has expressed a wish to stay at The Hawthorns, and force his way into the first team under new boss Roy Hodgson.

Speaking at yesterday’s Portman Road press conference, Jewell revealed: “Simon Cox is a player that we have enquired about, at West Brom.

“But he wants to stay at West Brom, and see if he can get into their first team.

“We’ve made a few calls, and Coxy was one of them.

“But for the time being he wants to try and get in their team, which is fine, I have no problem with that. He has a good goalscoring record at this level.

“He’s a young player, at 23, and I can understand his situation with a new manager coming into West Brom. He wants to try and impress him.”

Cox’s career really took off following his move from Reading to Swindon at the start of 2008. He went on to bag 35 goals in 62 league outings for the Robins, rattling up three hat-tricks in the process.

He made the step up to West Brom and the Premier League, for an initial fee of �1.5million, in the summer of 2009. He has made 17 appearances this season, although the vast majority of these have been as a substitute.

Jewell is constantly on the look-out for new blood, and to that end he attended Derby County’s home match against Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night.

Rovers striker Billy Sharp scored twice in a 3-1 away win, to make it 15 goals for the season, and a player of his goal-scoring prowess would obviously be on Jewell’s radar.

However, Jewell did knock down speculation that he had expressed an interest in Aston Villa’s 20-year-old front-runner, Nathan Delfouneso.

“”We haven’t asked about him (Delfouneso), or made any phone calls about him,” said Jewell.

The Town boss continued: “We’re not just sitting back thinking we’re doing OK. I’ve made a few calls, spoken to a few managers and made a few enquiries. But no one is either safe from relegation, or else out of the play-offs.

“In the Premier League, if they are not in the 25 (man squad) they can go, but sometimes it’s difficult for people to come out of the comfort zone of the Premier League.”