Reported Sunderland target James Garner is not to leave Manchester United this month on-loan, as revealed by Simon Stone of BBC Sport.
Despite sealing the impressive deal of Josh Scowen from QPR this month, Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson was reportedly keen on adding more depth in central midfield ahead of a promotion push in the second half of the season.
Parkinson has been very active in pursuing multiple targets in a range of positions this month, having brought in Kyle Lafferty, Bailey Wright, Josh Scowen already in January.
One player that was a persistent link to the club was Manchester United starlet James Garner, who is eager to gather more first-team experience this season after breaking through into the first-team over the past year but has only made six first-team appearances this season.
The Daily Mail reported that Sunderland were very keen to bring him in for the rest of the season and it was purely down to the Red Devils on whether he made the move to Wearside in League One.
However, Simon Stone of BBC Sport has revealed that Man United are not going to let Garner leave this transfer window and want to keep him with the first-team squad.
The bulk of Garner’s senior appearances this season have come in United’s Europa League campaign in which he has impressed a lot in holding midfield.
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The verdict
With the signing of Josh Scowen from QPR and the reported strong interest in young Celtic midfielder Luca Connell, Parkinson might not be losing too much sleep over this deal not happening.
Garner is undoubtedly a talented player and could do with more first-team experience than he is getting, but it’s a testament to his talent that Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is unwilling to let him leave.
He will surely make more of an impact on the first-team as the season goes on, after his Europa League exploits, but for now, he will have to be very patient.
The Red Devils will strengthen in the summer and that could be a great time for GArner to get a season-long move away to get regular minutes in senior football.