A Mint Deal (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

A Mint Deal

Town chief executive Mark Devlin has given Andy King the board's blessing to sign Everton man Sean O'Hanlon on a free transfer.

In an exclusive interview with the Adver yesterday, the young defender, pictured left, confirmed that he was very interested in making a permanent switch from Merseyside to Wiltshire.

Negotiations are now underway and Devlin is hopeful that an agreement can be reached with both Goodison boss David Moyes and the player himself.

Manager King has stressed the need to try and wrap up a deal as swiftly as possible in order to reduce the risk of other clubs snatching the defender out from under Town's noses.

Devlin agrees with that sentiment and hopes O'Hanlon will become a Town player sooner rather than later, providing the wage structure is right.

He said: "The Sean O'Hanlon issue has been discussed at board level and Andy has made his thoughts known to me about how he rates the lad.

"Sean is young, definitely one for the future and Andy feels he would be a good acquisition for this football club. There would be no transfer fee involved and provided his wage demands are sensible, then we would look to complete a deal to bring him here.

"If he is looking for £10,000 a week, then obviously we'd have to think again but I don't think that's going to be the case!"

Devlin and his fellow directors are encouraged by King's record on bringing in relatively unknown youngsters from Premiership clubs at little cost and then seeing them blossom.

"We have seen how Brian Howard and Andy Nicholas have come here and developed in a very short space of time. I don't think there's ever been any doubt that Andy has an eye for a young player.

"In Sean's case, it's a case of moving now to make sure others don't get in ahead of us. I'm sure there are others out there who admire him.

"The game has changed and the market is such that clubs such as ourselves are in a position to benefit from talented Premiership youngsters who haven't had the first team opportunities at the bigger clubs."

Devlin insists O'Hanlon's arrival would not break the bank and it would also fit in with King's desire to build from a position of strength, Town being fourth in Division Two and looking good for a play-off spot.

The defender himself has already made clear that he would be happy switching from Everton blue to Town red. He has already stated how he has fallen in love with Swindon Town.

After Saturday's win over Rushden and Diamonds, manager King said: "My mind's made up about the lad."

THE reserves travel to Cardiff City tomorrow. The game kicks off at 2pm. At least one triallist is expected to feature.

The Red Army Fund bucket collection raised £417 on Saturday to take the total up to around £,2000