‘I Wasn’t Optimistic At All’: Hughes Feared City Missing Out On 24 Year Old Creative Star

‘I Wasn’t Optimistic At All’: Hughes Feared City Missing Out On 24 Year Old Creative Star

MARK Hughes admitted he thought City had missed out in their late loan raid for Jon Tomkinson.

MARK Hughes admitted he thought City had missed out in their late loan raid for Jon Tomkinson.

The Norwich centre half’s season-long move from the Championship was confirmed yesterday – five days after the window shut.

 

The Bantams were waiting for the EFL to rubber-stamp everything after the clubs had rushed to get the deal boxed off before Friday’s 11pm deadline.

 

And Hughes revealed that he was not overly confident that it would be sanctioned.

 

He said: “I wasn’t optimistic at all.

“All the paperwork has to go in and if you’ve done that in time there’s a far greater chance of getting it done. But then we had to wait.

 

“We did everything we possibly could at our end and it was just a case of the league checking through it all and making sure it was all in before the deadline then they could sanction it.

 

“It looked like it wasn’t going to happen. But everything has been resolved and, in fairness, we’ve had great help from Norwich.

 

“They’ve obviously wanted Jon to have the opportunity to come to us and were really good in terms of making it happen from their end.”

 

Tomkinson’s arrival is still expected to lead to a departure from the squad. The transfer window restrictions do not apply for non-league clubs and Timi Odusina is understood to be attracting National League interest.

 

Luke Hendrie rejoined former club Hartlepool on loan last week and Odusina is likely to drop down a level as well to get some game-time.

Hughes believes American-born Tomkinson has all the attributes to impress during his time at Valley Parade.

“He’s a good, young player who has also had some games at League Two level,” added the City boss. “It wasn’t a first loan.

“He’s a good size, quick and is obviously well thought of at his parent club so we thought we’d try and do it.

 

“IF we can bring in good players and allow them to prosper, then we get help as well. We’re pleased that he’s here.

 

“We’ll take our time with him and integrate him into the group. Then he should be ready to go.

 

“It was just whether or not we felt we needed the cover.

 

“Ash (Taylor) isn’t back yet but we don’t think it’s going to be long. He trained on Tuesday so we’re reasonably covered in that area.

 

“It was just a good opportunity to get a player that we’d like to work with.”