Reports: Hoilett Bid Set To Fail, McGeady Now Top Target

Today's papers seem to suggest that Junior Hoilett is set to turn down a potential move to Sunderland in favour of a move to Queens Park Rangers after he has supposedly held advanced talks with the Hoops. Indeed these talks seem so advanced that SkyBet yesterday suspended betting on Hoilett's next club as odds on QPR were slashed.

It was widely believed that Hoilett had opted for Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach as our season finished, but that appears to have been way off the mark, with Hoilett's representatives supposedly having talks with ourselves, Newcastle and QPR.

QPR are ready and willing to splash the cash, even over-spend it could be said on players, and with the young Canadian apparently looking for a hefty wedge, the Londoners are perhaps best positioned to offer that.

It's a shame, as I really think Hoilett could have excelled here at Sunderland. An attacking trio of James McClean, Stephane Sessegnon and Hoilett, all with licence to do as much damage as possible behind Steven Fletcher would be a tantalizing prospect, although it now seems unlikely to happen. Of course it's not completely off the cards, but Graeme Anderson who reported the story for the Shields Gazette does have a very good track record, reputation and connections.

It's suggested now that Aiden McGeady, now of Spartak Moscow is Martin O'Neill's number one priority to fill the creation-free-zone that is our midfield. It's a long-running story that appears to be around forever, so either people aren't very creative, or there's quite a bit of truth in it.

McGeady has spoken of his desire to move to England, after telling the BBC in May this year;

I am happy there [at Spartak] just now and have two years left in my contract. I still have ambitions to play in England or wherever. I wouldn't want to stay there past my contract.

It's as about a polite a "I want to leave please" message as you can get. With now only two years remaining on his deal, the time would appear to be right for Spartak to cash in. A deal this summer could be worth to them double what he might command next year with a further year off his contract.

I'd rather have Hoilett personally speaking as I think he brings a bit more x-factor, but I see no problem in bringing McGeady in either. One worry might be that Giovanni Trapattoni couldn't seem to get him and McClean into the same Ireland side this summer, perhaps through stubbornness, perhaps it's a reasonable concern - who knows?

We do know though that McGeady is a top quality player on his day, and hopefully could capture the form he showed under O'Neill's tutelary at Celtic, which earned him the big-money move to Russia in the first place.