After yesterday's reports that Middlesbrough were still chasing Coventry City striker Lukas Jutkiewicz, the club have said the player is going nowhere.
After Middlesbrough failed with their £1m bud for Jutkiewicz on the last day of the summer transfer window, they returned with a bid to take the striker on loan with thoughts that they could probably buy him in the January transfer window.
Coventry City have reacted quickly though to dispel any ideas Tony Mowbray might have of making Jutkiewicz a Boro player by issuing a 'hands off' warning.
The emergency loan window is now open for Football League clubs and Middlesbrough contacted Coventry City almost immediately to enquire about taking the 22 year old former Everton striker on a three month loan with the option to buy in January, but were firmly rebuffed by by Coventry City.
Middlesbrough claimed they had their £1m bid for Jutkiewicz accepted by the City board only to see the deal fall through when Ben Turner went to Cardiff, but Jon Parkin didn't agree terms with Coventry. Boro claim that when the Parkin move fell thorough Coventry raised their asking price so they pulled out of the deal.
In one of his rare communications with the City fans SISU representative of the board Onye Igwe said that, “despite a number of approaches, we have declined substantial offers for Lukas Jutkiewicz.” The club has not commented on whether they provisionally accepted any offers for Jutkiewicz, but it is thought that during the transfer window several Coventry City players were offered to other clubs by SISU as they continue to try to reduce costs at the club.
A club statement read, “We have no intention of letting any players leave this club on loan at this time.”
Coventry City manager Andy Thorn, who was delighted to have kept all of his players except Ben Turner as well as securing the services of a much needed striker in the shape of Cody McDonald, was bemused by the latest bid by Middlesbrough.
He said, “Why would we loan him out? If we were looking to get rid of him we would have sold him in the window, so it makes no sense to send him out on loan."
“I’ve spoken to the chairman about it and Lukas is very much part of our plans here. He’s a good young talent and we certainly don’t want to lose him.”