Gunter set to leave for £2m bargain
Dec 23 2007 by Peter Shuttleworth, Wales On Sunday
CHRIS Gunter is poised to leave crisis club Cardiff City for a cut-price £2m, we can reveal.
The Wales teenage defender completed his medical at Premiership giants Tottenham Hotspur last night, but sources close to the player insist the club could have received more for their full back if they’d only agreed to improve Gunter’s £500-a-week basic wage apprentice contract last month.
Instead, following talks with the player’s agent, City decided to keep Gunter on the same deal allowing Spurs to swoop for the young prospect on the cheap – half of the initially reported £4m.
And last night City boss Peter Ridsdale warned fans that the cash from the Gunter deal will have to go to defending the club in its upcoming legal battle with creditors Langston.
The Championship club are haemorrhaging a reported £20,000-a-day in legal costs and owe Langston £24m – which means the Bluebirds could be forced to sell more of their fans’ favourites next month.
Speaking last night Ridsdale acknowleged there could be more players leaving City in January but he denied the club would have a “fire sale.”
He said: “We’re not starting a fire sale because if Spurs hadn’t met our valuation we wouldn’t have sold him.
“There are a number of income streams that we expected to have banked but people are withholding them because they’re scared of what might happen if we lose the court case.
“Now there are transfer windows in place we have to look ahead and make money by any means possible and that includes selling players.
“I can’t guarantee not selling players in January as what else am I supposed to do to generate cash?
“We need the short-term cash injection and I expect the vultures are circling, looking at pinching our players because of our impending court case. But we’re not going to sell anyone on the cheap.”
Gunter will officially sign a four-and-a-half year deal at Spurs when the January transfer window opens on New Year’s Day, but City could have cashed in big-time if the boyhood Cardiff fan had got his wish of an improved senior deal following his impressive performances for Wales last month.
Ridsdale and City boss Dave Jones met with Gunter’s agent David Baldwin four weeks ago and promised his client a bigger deal should the academy product establish himself in Cardiff’s first team by the New Year.
Gunter was disappointed with Cardiff’s treatment but his Wales performances did enough to persuade Tottenham to make three bids for the youngster. The Football League’s Apprentice of the Year will now become Spanish manager Juande Ramos’ first signing.
But Ridsdale defended the club’s decision not to sign up Gunter on a new contract saying it had no impact on the transfer fee.
He said: “Chris is not going to Tottenham because of what we are, or are not, paying him. Chris moving is irrespective of what I could have done.
“You’re not going to tell me that if Tottenham Hotspur come along and ask a lad to join a top Premiership club, he’s not going to go?
“The kids are on a set amount of money as an apprentice but get paid a substantial sum if they play in the first team. Chris was on one of those contracts and, for an 18-year-old he was on very good money.
“Dave and I sat down with his agent about four weeks ago and I committed that if Chris established himself in the first team we’d sit down and agree a new deal.”
But Ridsdale will know that if Gunter had been secured on a new contract then Spurs would likely have had to pay Cardiff more to secure his services.
Gunter was once hailed the ‘new Gareth Bale’ by City supremo Jones. Teenage star Bale joined Tottenham in a £10m deal in the summer from Southampton – after rejecting moves from Spurs in the previous January window.
Premiership high-fliers Everton are considering a £3.5m move for Gunter’s club and country colleague Joe Ledley, City’s player of the season, while their Merseyside rivals Liverpool are considering a new bid for teenage sensation Aaron Ramsey.
Ridsdale accepts ‘every Cardiff player has their price – warning: “We had a previous owner who just sat there writing cheques for money we didn’t have and racked up a £24m debt. Now he wants the money back nine years early and I’m supposed to sit there and not sell players.
“My job is to stabilise the club financially and prepare for the new stadium.
“At the moment I’m doing a balancing act to ensure we’ve a good a team as we can afford but also enough money to survive.”
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