Easter pleads to go

9:15am Thursday 30th August 2007

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By Gareth Moorhouse »

TOWN target Jermaine Easter has pleaded with Wycombe Wanderers to lower their valuation of him after seeing his dream move to the Championship scuppered by the Adams Park board.

Easter revealed the Chairboys had rejected a bid of around £250,000 from Plymouth Argyle, twice the amount Swindon offered for the striker last week.

With just two days left until the August transfer window closes, Easter believes he is being priced out of the market by his current employers.

And though his preferred destination is the Championship, Easter insists playing for Paul Sturrock in League One would also be an attractive proposition.

He said: "If Swindon put in an offer that Wycombe accepted then I would definitely speak to them.

"I know that Paul Sturrock is a very good manager and I know a couple of the players there.

"Swindon is a club that's going places and I would be interested.

"I would like to work for Paul Sturrock but the offer would have to be accepted first."

Easter knows any switch to Wiltshire is out of the question though until Wycombe hang a more realistic price tag around his neck.

He said: "I've seen some of the fees being played for players nowadays.

"Our chairman has obviously seen that too and feels he can get more money.

"I can understand that he would want to get the best deal for the club, but I'm the one that's being made to suffer.

"I only cost Wycombe £80,000 from Stockport County and now they have turned down an offer more than three times that.

"I don't want to rock the boat because I don't believe that's the right way to do things.

"But I had a meeting with the club yesterday and they wouldn't tell me how much money they wanted for me, which was pretty frustrating."

Easter is out of contract at Adams Park at the end of the season, when he would be available on a free transfer.

Swindon cannot wait that long for a new front man, but they are unlikely to break the bank simply to boost squad numbers, and Easter doesn't blame them.

He said: "I wouldn't pay that much (£250,000) for a player who is out of contract at the end of the season.

"The club obviously want to try and get the same kind of money they got from Nottingham Forest for Nathan Tyson.

"But I don't think he was worth that much money.

"There's nothing I can do about it though until Wycombe accept an offer from another club."

With Swindon and Plymouth the only two sides to table firm offers to date, Easter is keeping his fingers crossed that Sturrock comes back in for him before tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, another Town target David McGoldrick appears destined for a move to League One rivals Nottingham Forest.

The Southampton striker, who was born in the East Midlands city, still has family there and could join Forest on a loan deal.

Saints boss George Burley said: "He's got a young baby in Nottingham and we spoke to him in pre-season and Nottingham Forest are keen to take him on loan.

"And for family reasons, more than anything, we might do that."