By Chris Slavin
Neal Ardley today revealed that the potential signing of a new striker had fallen through after he changed his mind during the medical.
"We had been working for a month on a deal that was going to happen today," said Neal. "We have all turned up at the ground, the player has arrived, and then 10 minutes into the medical he has had a U-turn and decided to pull out, saying it was not the move for him. He has had the wobbles, for whatever his reasons are. Unfortunately, we are left at a late stage having worked on a player who was the one and everyone else who was on the list is now tied up.
"The player has turned up and I did not get the feeling that everything was right. Everything had been agreed with the clubs and everyone, including the board, had worked hard on it. Unfortunately, all of our efforts have gone to waste. At a late stage, he has decided that it is not for him, whether that is to go to another club, or whether he has had the wobbles, I don't know."
Despite the news, Neal thanked the club board and supporters, through the We Are Wimbledon Fund, for their help during the January transfer window. The manager said that there was money to fund a fourth striker.
To watch Neal's full update, click on the link below.
Neal believes that the squad will have enough attacking options during the rest of this season, as long as there is no bad luck with injuries.
"Joe Pigott has come in and given a lift to the place and we felt another striker could come in and add to that," added Neal. "Nothing surprises you in football, I always say to people that it's not a done deal until someone has signed on the dotted line.
"It leaves us in a position that I am still comfortable with. Obviously, you never know in the run-in if you are going to get injuries and that's always your concern. If we can keep the injuries away, get that little bit of luck in that respect, I am very happy with what we've got. I think we have three strikers in really good form and we have good attacking options. We've got people who can come off the bench now and the rest of the team defensively is very sound. I think we are in a very good place and we just need a little bit of luck with injuries."