Stoke City strike duo Peter Crouch and Kenwyne Jones 'don't have chips on shoulders'
TONY Pulis has dismissed any suggestion that strikers Peter Crouch and Kenwyne Jones have been left with a chip on their shoulder following recent transfer speculation.
Crouch was courted by QPR until the final day of the January transfer window, while Swansea bid £3m for Jones early on in the month.
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Kenwyne Jones: 'He's been fine'
Pulis admitted each player had his price, but said there was no question of actively trying to sell either of his strikers.
He argued he was always confident Crouch wouldn't opt for QPR – even if Harry Redknapp had tabled an acceptable bid after reputedly going as high as £5m at one stage.
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"That was an on-going thing, but I never thought it would happen," he said.
"Peter was adamant he wanted to stay and be part of the club. He and his family are settled in the Manchester area and he likes it up here.
"Unless we said the deal was one we couldn't turn down, he wouldn't have gone.
"Initially, when they made first contact, you get a bit worried as they're in a situation where they look as though they have money to burn.
"If it was an extraordinary offer you couldn't turn down you have to find cover quickly, but it never got to that stage."
Swansea's interest in Jones gathered pace with news of a bid in the build-up to the fixture between the two clubs on January 19 when the Trinidadian was dropped to the substitutes' bench.
Lifting the lid on the Jones speculation, Pulis said: "Everyone kept telling us Swansea wanted to take him, but I never received a call from them in the last couple of days.
"It was an inquiry that was made two or three weeks prior to the window. There was no follow up.
"But people find out there was an inquiry and all of a sudden it starts to flame. He's been fine."
Pulis also repeated he made every reasonable effort to fills gaps at full-back and centre-half when the window was open.
The likes of Blackburn Rovers' Scott Dann, Birmingham City's Curtis Davies and Bolton Wanderers left-back Marcos Alonso were in his sights before he was beaten by the 11pm deadline.
"There's a couple of areas in the squad that needed to be rectified," he acknowledged.
"We tried to do it in the summer, but couldn't, and we tried in this window and got close with a couple of deals.
"Those, for one reason or another, just didn't happen. That was a disappointment because I felt we needed to do it."
2 Comments
by Stars-stripes
Sunday, February 10 2013, 9:13AM
“What a fantastic vote of confidence from our two big men. Both could have left both decided to stay with us.
It's like our goalkeeper situation two players of great quality where it doesn't matter who plays, we have equal confidence.
How lucky are we to have Tony Pulis once more guaranteeing premiership football for another season”
by Pottersruleok
Saturday, February 09 2013, 12:19PM
“OK Pulis, they didn't leave, they are still here so are you going to figure out how to use them properly so they do what you brought them to Stoke to do
score goals !!”