Derby Confident Of Bodde Capture

Derby County are confident in signing Ferrie Bodde after claims were made by Rams Chairman Adam Pearson that the Dutchman was house-hunting in the area.

Bids of £500,000 and £750,000 were rejected by Swansea City for the former ADO Den Haag player but the Pride Park outfit have been resolved in their desire to sign the highly rated midfielder.

Negotiations over the £2 million evaluation placed on Bodde have led to a bitter war of words between the two championship sides. Initially Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins had declared the first bid "laughable" and led Derby to up their bid to £750,000 which again was flatly rejected by the club.

Cooling speculation over a move Derby County dismissed further reports that the they would put a fresh bid on the table and that they were dropping out of the race to sign the Delft born player. Only three days later Derby tabled a deal worth up to the Liberty Stadium's asking price of £2 million.

Bodde has spoken out about the ongoing saga and declared he wants to join County but Roberto Martinez has been adamant that the player has been misquoted. Believing the Dutchman has not been misquoted Rams chairman Adam Pearson has made claims that the midfield maestro is house hunting in the Derby area and has defended the clubs position over the ongoing negotiations after coming under huge criticism over their conduct in the bidding process.

Pearson Told The Derbyshire Telegraph:

"The player has made it absolutely clear that he wants to go to Derby - he's definitely not been misquoted. I think the situation is he's even looking for houses in Derby. We're not fuelling that (speculation). It's the agents who are fuelling that because, obviously, they want to get a better deal. I think they feel that the fee we've put in is fair." To be fair to Swansea, he's their player and they will ask for whatever fee they want but I know the player wants to come and he is absolutely adamant he wants to play his football here. How that leaves his situation at Swansea is for them to decide."

For the first time Swansea City captain Garry Monk has spoken out about the ongoing situation over possible transfer.

Monk Told The SWEP

"I've spoken to Ferrie a couple of times over the summer and he wasn't sure what his situation was. Hopefully we can keep him, but most of the time money talks. If we keep Ferrie great. These transfers happen every year in football, it's just a shame that Derby can afford to splash so much cash because of Premiership parachute payments. If we do lose Ferrie then I'm sure the manager will be other players brought in to replace him."

Yesterday the deadline passed for existing season ticket holders to retain their seats for next season, all seats will now go on general sale.

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