Selling club

It's January, and the window is open. One assumes that the handful of players whom Phil Brown is anxious to ship out will be on show at Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup tomorrow, as many a footballer will only be worth money if he is seen to be competent at football.

What is more interesting is the small gaggle of players who are first-team regulars but will be allowed to leave this month if the offer is right. Rumours began the other night at Bolton Wanderers about Dean Marney (who has, admittedly, been off the radar, uninjured, for a fortnight now) and a possible £3 million deal with Fulham. You wouldn't find many Hull City fans who wouldn't advise the club to snap Mr Fayed's hands off.

Bernard Mendy is an intriguing one too. He is a fine player, if sometimes mad as a window, and only contributes to games when his mind is right and his position on the park suits his mood. But recently he was believed to be on the unwanted list and his prolonged departures from the KC pitch against Manchester United and then the Reebok two days later - plus the removal and presentation of his his shirt to a young fan at the latter game - hints at a forthcoming departure. Then again, Mendy is always the last to finish applauding supporters and leave the arena at the end of matches, even if he is being roundly slagged off for a bad display. And he does come across as a rather emotional figure, so the shirt incident may just have been a spontaneous Christmas gesture.

Kamil Zayatte's future was chucked into doubt after Sky Sports claimed that City were prepared to listen to offers. However, the club has since offered a stringent denial of any desire to sell the gifted Guinean defender and, given a lack of follow-up stories elsewhere, it seems more like an agent making mischief than anything else. City would, frankly, be totally insane to sell Zayatte given his form, the gap already left by Michael Turner's wretched farewell and the evident lack of replacement centre backs.

The finances of the club make it impossible for Brown to repeat his comparably flush antics during the last three windows and it's clear that far more selling than buying needs to happen. City do need a striker, a midfield enforcer, another central defender and one, possibly even two, full backs. It's unlikely that all of these will be purchased, but the number that are will depend on how much pruning can be done of the current squad, both in terms of numbers and expense. Maybe this is why the club may be looking at selling those of value to themselves, as well as those only of value to someone else.