Emerton joins Rovers

Last updated : 10 July 2003 By Martyn Elliott

Although Emerton failed to impress against us in the Champions League last season Sir Bobby obviously saw something in him as the club chased his signature for over a year.

But last August the Dutch club pulled out of an £8million deal claiming that they didn’t believe we had the money to pay them and this summer Freddy Shepherd refused to meet their £4million asking price. The situation seems to be more than a little strange but surely if Sir Bobby had really wanted Emerton we would have agreed terms with Feyenoord, which suggests that the signing of Lee Bowyer had relegated the importance of acquiring the Australian.

Meanwhile another rumoured transfer target, Stephen Carr is staying at Spurs.

The Republic of Ireland full back is quoted in Thursday’s papers, claiming: "Right now, it looks as if I will be at Spurs on the first day of the season. That does not bother me one bit. I'm happy at the club and I don't want to cause a fuss."

So it is back to square one as far as transfer activity goes, but even at this stage it seems inconceivable that there will be no more signings this summer.