Crawley Town on verge of signing League One star as they woo Liverpool, Manchester City, Brentford and Southampton

Crawley Town’s new owners have been on the charm offensive with a host of Premier League clubs as they look to build their squad for the coming season.
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Co-chairman Preston Johnson and Logan Matthews from WAGMI United attended the Transfer Room Conference in Madrid towards the latter end of last week.

What was described as ‘speed-dating for football clubs’, it gave Crawley Town a chance to talk to Premier League clubs and discuss what players they were looking for and what players are available.

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As described on Transfer Room’s website, they ‘empower football clubs, agents and players to be successful in the transfer market by giving them real-time market intelligence and direct access to a global network of decision makers.’

Before now, Crawley was only one of three EFL clubs not signed up to Transfer Room, but now they are and Matthews, talking on the latest Twitter spaces update with @hunterorrell said: “So typically in the footballing world when you're trying to do deals with other clubs, it's not very transparent.

"It could be difficult to know who's available, who they're looking to move on, who they're looking to bring in, and things like that. So Transfer Room basically exists to make that a very transparent process, so we're able to post ‘we're looking for this player for this much at this position’. Other clubs are able to do the same thing. They're able to pitch players to us players who fit that profile. We're able to look and see who other players are looking for."

And Matthews described it as invaluable experience getting face-to-face time with some Premier League big guns. “We met with 14 or so while we were there and had a chance to get really good face to facetime with some clubs.

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"Obviously for Crawley, the chance to sit down with Man City Liverpool, Southampton, Brentford is invaluable to us, getting a chance to meet with them and talk specifically.

Dan Micciche and Kevin BetsyDan Micciche and Kevin Betsy
Dan Micciche and Kevin Betsy

Having installed Kevin Betsy as manager and Dan Micciche as his assistant two weeks ago also played a big part in their discussions with the big clubs.

Matthews said: “Premier League level players or Premier League level clubs with very talented players that they're looking to take out on loan and we become an option now because of the style of play and the note the player development they know they're going to get with Kevin and Dan.

"We were told ‘we hear what you're saying that you're gonna be aggressive and you're do this, you’re going to do that’ but Kevin and Dan were sort of the first Domino's to fall, and now that we've got them in place, it's sort of that first thing that backs up what we've said.

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"Agents are calling me back. They're reaching back out. We're having these conversations with players and be able to be a lot more aggressive [in the transfer market] and work a lot faster.”

And they are hoping to announce a new signing soon. Johnson said: “It's all but done. A League One player, super talented. Massive upside he is only 21. We think that one's over the line.”

They are also hoping to announce more coaching staff imminently as well. Matthews said: “We've also hired a lot of other coaching staff, not just Kevin and Dan. And hopefully we start announcing some of that. But we've really increased the staff because we know that's such a massive part of it.”

And Johnson has been very impressed with how meticulous Betsy and Micciche are in their research and planning for conversations with players. “Kevin and Dan are so meticulous and you know, they're excellent in that mindset,” he said. “They just had a call or a meeting with a potential player and one thing the player really complained about, they were at a prominent league club and they said, ‘it was like nothing was prepared. We kind of went day by day and they were we're nervous about that. What do you guys have planned?’

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"And then they had this incredible presentation prepared for him ready for him. They had done their research on him so the coaching staff on the planning side is really phenomenal.”

See the latest Crawley Town news here.

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