Fleetwood Town have joined Bristol Rovers in the chase for 20-year-old University College of Dublin defender Liam Scales.
It was widely believed that Scales had agreed a deal with Bristol Rovers, but that seems to have been media chatter that got ahead of itself. Graham Coughlan, Gas boss, admitted he was interested in the player but that nothing firm had been put in place.
“There seems to be more talk in Ireland than anywhere else,” said Coughlan.
“Liam Scales is a very good player, I’ll tell it how it is because there have been some inaccurate reports. He’s a player we’ve looked at, he’s a player I like and I’d like to bring to the football club, being able to do that might be different.”
That’s been interpreted as the move ‘stalling’ by the Irish Independent, who now see Joey Barton’s side as possible competition for Coughlan.
Scales has also been on trial with Manchester City, impressing during his time there in April. The Premier League Champions intended to follow that up by watching him at the Toulon tournament.
Scales has represented UCD 21 times in the League of Ireland so far this season, scoring once. He’s primarily a centre back but can also operate in a holding midfield role when called upon.
Our View
Ah, paper talk. We all love it; it’s why you’re reading this piece now. We love a rumour, half-truth and hint that our club is after someone.
It’s why Graham Coughlan moved this week to put reporters straight after his links were revealed. Much of the speculation seems to be coming out of Irena,d rather than through our own press.
It seems there are forces at work looking to engineer a move to England for Scales, but those forces are seemingly based across the sea.
It’ll be interesting to see if Barton responds; he usually does.
