Rumour Mill-The Cheeky McFadden Bid?

The Daily Record this week suggested that the Clarets had put in a cheeky bid of £800,000 for Birmingham striker,James McFadden.The offer perhaps not surprisingly was apparently flatly rejected by Brum gaffer,Alex McLeish.

The 26-year-old, Scottish International cost Birmingham £5 million to sign the player from Everton just two seasons ago.

McFadden though has not lived up to expectations and this season has been severely hampered with a knee injury that kept him out of the game for a large part of 2008/9. The thinking is that perhaps Alex McLeish might be willing to cut his loses by selling the player at a more modest price but clearly an audacious bid of £800k is not in the right ballpark.

Would Owen Coyle seriously want to pay more though if the rumour is true? The striker has just eight goals in his 42 appearances for Birmingham.

The Glaswegian started his professional career with Motherwell after coming up through their youth system before Toffees gaffer, David Moyes paid £1.25 million for the striker bringing him to Everton in 2003.

In January 2008 McFadden joined Birmingham City, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the option for an additional two years. He signed for an initial fee of £5 million which could potentially rise to £6m depending on appearances. McFadden has 42 caps for Scotland and has scored 14 goals for them. He clearly seems to be a more prolific scorer for Scotland than he does for his club with a scoring rate of 1 in 3 in the internationals.

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