David Cuffley City manager Glenn Roeder admitted today that he does not expect to sign Birmingham defender Martin Taylor before the January transfer window ends on Thursday.

David Cuffley

City manager Glenn Roeder admitted today that he does not expect to sign Birmingham defender Martin Taylor before the January transfer window ends on Thursday.

The Canaries' initial offer of £750,000 for the centre-half, which followed his eight matches on loan at Carrow Road, was rejected and the saga has rumbled on for weeks.

But Roeder said this morning: “Martin's looking very, very doubtful. I wouldn't be holding my breath about Martin Taylor coming in this week.

“All I know is he wants to come here, but I don't think it's going to happen.”

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has held on to the 28-year-old while he tries to bolster his defensive ranks with new signings.

“They still seem confident they're going to do that,” said Roeder. “But that still doesn't make me confident that we'd be able to strike a deal - not in this window anyway. It might be something for the summer now.”

However, he said he hoped to secure one new signing later today, ahead of tomorrow's Championship trip to Southampton.

“I'm very confident,” said Roeder. “He could possibly be registered for tomorrow but I wouldn't think of putting him in because he wouldn't have trained with the team.”

He also said City had first refusal on an Arsenal youngster who could be allowed out on loan.

“As far as I'm aware they're only going to let one lad out. They have got a lot of injuries and are still in plenty of competitions so I don't think they can afford to let any out,” said Roeder.

“There's just one very young lad they might let out that could interest us, who we might take - we've got first option on him anyway. He's a real youngster, but like most of those Arsenal youngsters they tend to be able to cope with senior football at an early age.”

The City boss said he knew nothing of reports linking Darren Huckerby with a move to Toronto.

He said: “No one has phoned me up. I've taken no phonecalls, but this is the time of year for speculation.

“I've had no phonecalls from anywhere in this country or anyone in Canada - or the world.”

Huckerby, who missed the last home game against Leicester and had an injection in a hip injury last week, has a chance of being in the squad for the Southampton game, but Roeder said: “If we have to wait a few more days, we'll wait a few more days. The team played so well against Leicester that it wouldn't be a problem for me if I had to wait a bit longer.

“He has a very, very small tear on the hip joint, certainly not anywhere near enough to consider surgery, so he hasn't got to worry about that, but his style of play is all about pace and twisting and turning.”