Swansea deny £4m McCarthy bid as Carr signs two-year Birmingham deal

SWANSEA have admitted their interest in Hamilton’s Republic of Ireland U21 midfielder James McCarthy but have denied making a multi-million pound bid for the player.

The 18-year-old, the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year, has been linked with a number of clubs on both sides of the border with the starlet believed to be keen on a move to Celtic.

Reports in Scotland suggested Swans manager Roberto Martinez was prepared to pay up to £4 million (€4.5m) for McCarthy after watching him in Hamilton’s 1-0 SPL defeat to Falkirk on Wednesday, but the Swansea Evening Post yesterday claimed the club have not come anywhere close to that figure.

“I thought April Fool’s Day was last month,” chairman Huw Jenkins told the paper. “This is fantasy football.”

Should the Liberty Stadium club decide to make a firm offer for McCarthy, then it would almost certainly eclipse the club-record £400,000 (€450,000) they paid to sign Ashley Williams from Stockport.

Portsmouth have also had a bid – reportedly £500,000 – turned down for the player.

Hamilton boss Billy Reid does not want to lose McCarthy, who signed a new three-year contract last summer, but insists he will not stand in the teenager’s way if he wants to leave.

* Birmingham defender Stephen Carr has signed a new two-year deal with the club, keeping him at St Andrew’s until the summer of 2011.

The 32-year-old came out of retirement in January to revive his career with Blues and was one of the star performers in the final 13 games of their promotion-winning season.

Manager Alex McLeish said: “Carr has done well. His hunger has been since he arrived. He is a fully motivated player with the kind of quality that counts in the Premier League. He is always positive and says the right things – he has got a winner’s attitude.”

* Aston Villa captain Martin Laursen has been forced into retirement at the age of just 31 by a persistent knee injury. Laursen had not played since the 2-1 win against West Brom on January 10 when he aggravated the problem he picked up the previous month playing at West Ham. He then suffered another setback in February at a Villa training camp in Dubai. There was no guarantee surgery on his right knee would enable him to play again – leaving Laursen with little option but to hang up his boots.

* Dubliner Joe Murphy was the hero as Scunthorpe beat MK Dons 7-6 on penalties in last night’s League One play-off semi-final second leg. After the match finished scoreless Murphy saved two penalties before former Chelsea striker Tore Andre Flo missed decisively for the MK Dons in sudden death.