Oxford United’ miserable summer looks set to continue as they’re poised to miss out on transfer target Marcus Browne, with Championship side Middlesbrough ready with a four-year deal according to Football Insider.
The West Ham man had been on loan at the Kassam and was thought to be a target for Robinson, but it seems he’s now going to make the same move Ashley Fletcher made a couple of seasons ago. Browne, a winger who can operate across the front three, was recently revealed as an Oxford target.
Karl Robinson revealed that the club chairman had said he would sign Browne at any cost, but often cost is not the only motivator.
“I’d love him, there’s no getting away from the fact that if he’s available, we’ll pay money for him,” he has previously said of Browne.
“The chairman has openly said to me ‘whatever it costs, we’ll buy him’.”
It’s not proven to be that easy though, not for Browne or his other targets. His side are still hunting a striker and a centre back, with the latter to replace Curtis Nelson who joined Cardiff City.
Robinson has been in the news today lamenting missing out on key targets as the summer slowly runs into the new season.
“It does do your head in,” he said of his player hunt.
“There’s no point me coming out and saying everything’s perfect. There’s elements of you that worry and other elements stay calm.
“It depends what day it is. Sometimes I’m quite cool with it and roll with the punches, but there are others where you think ‘come on, give me a bit of luck’.”
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I’m not sure there will be too much sympathy for Oxford after the Chris Cadden transfer. They’ve made a few enemies with the underhand way they’ve acquired the former Motherwell man and maybe, just maybe a few League One fans will be smiling at Robinson’s misfortune.
It makes for an interesting week for sure. They need to replace Nelson at the back, he was one of their key men lat season. They’ve not got a ‘prolific’ striker either, with Football League World reporting that Whyte’s stats don’t correlate with his £4m value.
That’s going to be a worry and for the next week, Robinson might be better out of the papers and on the phone to agents.
