Jewell tries to curb Barnes talk

Derby boss Paul Jewell has called on Alan Curbishley to end the speculation surrounding teenage star Giles Barnes.

Reports continually link Barnes with a £5m move to West Ham, yet Jewell has still had no official contact from the London club.

That led to Jewell taking the bull by the horns yesterday as he telephoned Curbishley to see if there was any truth in all the rumours.

Jewell is now waiting for Curbishley to return the call as he said: “It’s got to the stage where I called Alan to see if he wants Giles Barnes or not.

“It’s getting on my nerves because there’s something every few minutes, either on Sky or it’s in the newspapers, yet I haven’t heard anything.

“Alan hasn’t got back to me yet, so I guess it’s newspaper talk or agents being busy because I know him well enough that he would call me.

“The fact is I’m not looking to sell Giles Barnes, but what I am looking to do is to put all this talk to bed.

“Since the moment I arrived, in fact since the summer because West Ham were interested then, there’s been talk of a deal for Giles, but I know nothing about it.”

It is a distraction Jewell could well do without at a time when his relegation-threatened squad is stretched to breaking point.

Eight players are out injured for tomorrow’s Pride Park clash with Blackburn, leaving Jewell with just 17 available, although Jay McEveley is also struggling through illness.

Jewell, though, is definitely without Stephen Bywater and Stephen Pearson (both shoulder), Andy Griffin, Rob Earnshaw (both calf), Matt Oakley (thigh), Andy Todd (back), Claude Davis (knee) and David Jones (groin).

It has led to the recall of striker Jon Macken from his loan spell at Barnsley, while defender Lewin Nyatanga will follow suit from the same club on January 2.

“We’ve watched Jon and Lewin Nyatanga, all the players on loan,” added Jewell.

“With Jon, there was a 24-hour recall, so when Rob Earnshaw picked up his injury against Liverpool the other day, we had to call him back.

“We’ve told him that we’re so short on bodies he is back in the squad, as simple as that, and he’s in form with three goals in his last two games.

“He didn’t have much luck under the previous regime, so I’ll have a look at him and see what happens.”

Rooted to the foot of the table and nine points adrift of safety, Jewell knows Derby’s situation is becoming increasingly desperate.

“If we’re to get out of this then we need 30 points from somewhere pretty quickly,” remarked Jewell.

“Thirty-eight points might do it, so we’ve to get 30 or 31 points from somewhere to have half a chance, with only 19 games left.

“It means we need 10 wins from those 19 games, and on current form, we’ve no chance.

“But you never know in this game, and while there’s still a hope we owe it to ourselves and the supporters to keep fighting.”