Rumours of our interest in Southampton's Jack Cork continue
Way back when, Mickey Adams walked out on the Swans after around two weeks in charge. His assistant Alan Cork became his successor (Cork had and would go on to work alongside Adams at various other clubs) and enjoyed an unspectacular season, though he did bring in a couple of good players who John Hollins would steer to promotion the following season. [Talking of players he brought in - check out this interview I grabbed with Matthew Bound last October: link].
Throughout the summer we've been linked with his son Jack, who would have been eight when his father was appointed at the Swans. I can't say I know if Alan moved his family down for his year here, but given the asking price for Jack is reportedly only around £3million, I've got my fingers crossed that the city made a favourable impression on him - assuming he spent time here at all! If he did it's fair to say things will be different from how he remembers it, given we were still at our crumbling-but-beloved Vetch Field.
Personally I'm a big fan of Jack Cork. We need a central midfielder, and he fits the bill perfectly. He's young (ish - he's 25), British and will be used to playing in a pressing/passing based system thanks to Pochettino's work at Saints over the last few years.What's more, with a year left on his contract his current market value will be below what you'd expect for a player of his calibre.
Whether Jack will fancy making the journey his father made some seventeen years prior remains to be seen. The partisan fan in me hopes that, unlike his father, he won't leave us in a lowly league position before leading the blue...red...whatever colour lot down the road to promotion a few years later. That does seem unlikely though.
I'm going to run Jack Cork's through stats through the player radar template to see how he compares with our existing central midfielders. Stay tuned!