Elgin City manager Allan Hale burns midnight oil for last minute transfer window business to seal loan deal for Bradford City teenager Freddy Jeffreys, a midfielder once on the radar of Fulham and Southampton
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Elgin City have brought in highly-rated Bradford City youngster Freddy Jeffreys on loan to conclude a hectic January window for manager Allan Hale.
Hale has now brought in seven new faces in the month, made one of his loan deals permanent and secured several key current squad members on contract extensions.
He described how he struck a deal for his latest acquisition as a result of frantic business on deadline day.
Jeffreys (18) has played two matches for Bradford's first team in the EFL Trophy this season, and his midfield talents have caught the eye of Brentford, Fulham and Southampton.
He will move north next week and conclude the season with City, who have given him the platform to showcase his ability in the competitive environment of League 2.
"We have made a lot of phone calls since the start of the window and reached out to some of the contacts that we have down south, who we had built relationships with over the years," Hale explained.
"It’s something that came about late in the window in terms of his availability. We have done research on the boy, watched footage of him and he is a very talented kid.
"It was only last year that he had a move to Brentford’s B team in the pipeline and unfortunately failed his medical and it fell through. He’s attracted interest from Fulham and Southampton so he’s very talented and highly rated.
"It was something we had been working on and didn’t think it was going to happen. I got a phone call yesterday morning and we were on the phone pretty much the whole day.
"We then had to get a Zoom call late at night, that got over the line and we literally had 90 minutes to get the paperwork done before the window closed."
Hale explained that although City had reached their limit of five domestic loan signings, they are also able to bring in two international ones and Jeffrey's cross-border move is one of those.
Hale has now taken in Cove Rangers duo Dayshonne Golding and Mark Gallagher, as well as Caley Thistle youngster Keith Bray to join City's two existing loanees, Aberdeen's Blair McKenzie and Ross County's Connall Ewan.
The City manager praised the efforts of the club's general manager Mark Cooper in helping him get all of his transfer business completed.
"Huge credit to Mark for the work that he has done throughout a very busy window, making sure that the squad is aligned.
"There’s been a lot of long hours from a lot of people and from an admin perspective it’s a lot of work. I’m appreciative of Mark’s efforts and also of Craigh Stewart ( Community and Academy Operations Manager) in helping us to do what we needed to do to get this all ratified."
As well as his loan business, Hale has also made permanent deals in January to bring in defender Lyall Booth and winger Michael Dangan from his former club Huntly.
He has brought in former Aberdeen and Fraserburgh midfielder Lewis Duncan on a permenant deal, and completed contract extensions with the likes of captain Matthew Cooper, long-serving Brian Cameron, Rory MacEwan, Owen cairns and Fin Allen, as well as securing striker Mark Jones on a contract until the end of the campaign.
Hale revealed how he had to fight off competition to bring in Jeffreys in his final deal of the window.
"The fact that he comes in at a good level and gets exposure to first team level, he saw it as a good opportunity but his determination to come up here is great to see.
"He had other options in Scotland as well which he turned down to come to us, so that was pleasing. You have to commend an 18-year-old boy for wanting to do it so fair play and hopefully it’s one that can work out for us all.
"He’s been playing down there and had game time. He will take a bit of time as with most signings that you make in January, they don’t tend to have had too much game time but he is fit and ready to play and we will get him up next week and get him integrated to the team next week."
