Albion close to a signing (From The Argus)

Albion close to a signing

5:00pm Monday 11th June 2012 in Sport By Brian Owen

Gus Poyet has shrugged off the loss of a transfer target and told Albion fans to expect a new signing.

Left-back Joe Mattock signed a three-year deal with Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night, despite interest from the Seagulls.

Mattock was on loan at The Amex for the run-in last season, raising hopes among fans he would return when he was released by West Brom recently.

However Poyet said: “I’m not disappointed because there are too many things that need to come together when people become available and everything didn’t.

“I’m pleased for him because, after being released, he has signed for a big club and he has sorted out his future. We need to accept it.”

Poyet said Mattock’s move to Hillsborough was not simply a case of Albion being outbid.

The former Leicester defender is likely to have been on a relatively modest – by Premier League standards – four-figure weekly wage at West Brom.

Poyet said: “It’s everything, not just one thing.

“No worries. Let’s see if we can pay attention to getting players in for ourselves. I hope we can do something in the first few days of this week. We are so close but at the same time it is not in your hands. It is in the hands of the agent and the player.

“When it looks like you have got an agreement, sometimes they go the other way, try to get more. It’s like a show really.

“No problem. The agent is trying to do the best for the player and also for himself because it is a job.

“We’re lucky we are a club that people like. We have a good relationship with agents and we have no problem with anyone, which is good.

“But that doesn’t mean they will come to you just because you are good.

“It’s the money, the length of contract, so many things.”

Albion’s chances of bringing back Gonzalo Jara Reyes, who had two loan spells with them last season, will become clearer once Steve Clarke gets to work as head coach at West Brom.

The former Liverpool assistant last week secured a job with which Poyet had been linked in some quarters.

Clarke does not formally start work at the Hawthorns until next Monday.