Caulfield expects Lenihan exit

Cork City manager John Caulfield accepts the departure of Brian Lenihan is more than a probability, but is keen to ensure the club get the best possible deal.

City are currently in negotiations with a Premier League side, believed to be Hull City, regarding a possible transfer for the Republic of Ireland U21 international. Caulfield is reluctant to identify exactly who the suitors are but won’t stand in Lenihan’s way.

“A lot of teams have watched him,” he said, “but it’s a business deal and it isn’t up to Cork City to name the clubs involved.

“Everyone knows who has watched him, Arsenal have, Hull have, we’ve realised that Manchester United have watched him, Tottenham, Everton and Villa have watched him. They’ve all had direct club employees to look at him as opposed to some of the championship clubs, who’d have an agent saying he’s representing them.

“The official situation is that we received two bids and both have been rejected. One of the clubs has come back to us and we’re in negotiations with them but there’s still quite a bit of work to do.

“There’s a lot of talking to be done. Do I think that he’ll be gone across-channel in the next couple of weeks? I believe that he will, and we have to make sure that we get the proper deal and Brian does too.”

In the past, City have suffered with cross-channel transfers as the need to source money has meant that players’ potential value has not been realised. With the club on a sounder footing now, Caulfield wants to structure any deal in such a way that the return is maximised.

“From the club point of view,” he said, “we’ve already rejected two offers that have come in but we’ve spoken to one club and said, ‘Look it lads, it’s not like we’re looking for a gross amount of money, just give us a bit more and we’ll try and do a package with ye over a period of time’.

“That’s the way you have to do these deals nowadays and, historically, with all the players we’ve lost over the years — mainly because the club was in trouble — there were no add-ons.

“What we have to try and do is a structured deal that if he plays international football or moves on elsewhere, we get rewarded. That’s probably what you have to look at.”