Wednesday Papers - 01.8.07
KAID'S GOAL PLEDGE
Andy Cryer - Swindon Advertiser
KAID Mohamed admits he would relish the challenge of League One football and is confident he could help ease Town's current goal-scoring problems.
The 22-year-old Carmarthen Town striker was given a trial by Town boss Paul Sturrock in last night's 1-0 defeat to Bristol City, and Mohamed insists he would be worth the gamble.
Having quit the Welsh Premier League outfit to pursue his professional dream, Mohammed was on the verge of signing for League Two Wrexham but Town's late interest has given him plenty to think about.
Sturrock admitted he had plenty of decisions to make after last night's County Ground clash but said he was impressed by Mohamed's debut.
The Town boss looks set to give Steve Adams a contract while still has decisions to make over Spaniard Ibon Arrieta and the homegrown Michael Pook.
He also again recognised Town's need for more options going forward, revealing he was hopeful "one or two new faces" would be added by Exeter on Saturday.
Mohamed, pictured during last night's game, has scored three pre-season goals for Wrexham already this season.
But, after lasting almost 70 minutes last night, the striker admitted the desire to play as high as possible would give Town the edge.
He said: "At the moment I am just enjoying my football. I quit Carmarthen because I believe I should be playing professional football.
"I have enjoyed my trial at Wrexham and it is nice that they seem interested in me but it is also nice to see a club like Swindon showing some interest.
"At the end of the day I want to play as high a league as I can and so League One would look tempting.
"I know I could score goals here but I will have to talk to the manager and see what he says."
Mohamed showed in glimpses why Wrexham are keen to bring him to English football last night, with a rising first half strike just over the cross bar the highlight.
Sturrock was keeping his cards close to his chest but admitted he liked what he saw from the youngster.
He said: "I was very pleased with Mohamed. I thought he showed a lot of potential.
"He has the fitness of a gnat, ran his legs off and showed he knows how to play the game.
"He is another I have to think about overnight. I can't just make decision like that because other there are other irons in the fire as well.
"For a trialist to come from where he has been playing he never looked out of sorts."
KAID TEMPTED BY SWINDON
Wrexham Evening Leader
LEAGUE ONE football could be the incentive, which will see Kaid Mohamed snub Wrexham for Swindon.
And speaking after the match, Mohamed said: "At the end of the day I want to play in as high a league as I can and so League One would look tempting."
The Reds are now locked in a tug of war with Swindon Town for the highly rated former Carmarthen forward, after Robins boss Paul Sturrock admitted that Kaid's performance has given him a lot to think about.
"I was very pleased with Mohamed. I thought he showed a lot of potential," he said.
"He has the fitness of a gnat, ran his legs off and showed he knows how to play the game.
"He is another I have to think about overnight. I can't just make a decision like that because there are other irons in the fire as well.
"For a trialist to come from where he has been playing he never looked out of sorts."
Mohamed, who quit the Welsh Premier League outfit to pursue his professional dream, was on the verge of signing for League Two Wrexham, but now admits that Swindon's late interest has given him plenty to think about.
The 22-year-old South Walian lasted almost 70 minutes last night and insists he would relish the challenge of playing League One football.
"I know I could score goals here but I will have to talk to the manager (Paul Sturrock) and see what he says," he said. "At the moment I am just enjoying my football.
I quit Carmarthen because I believe I should be playing professional football. I am a free agent so no harm could be done by having a game with Swindon. When they called me they told me that they had been watching me for the past six months.
"I have enjoyed my trial at Wrexham and it is nice that they seem interested in me but it is also nice to see a club like Swindon showing some interest."
Whilst Mohamed was not involved in Wrexham's training session yesterday, as he prepared for his Swindon Town trial, Brian Carey confirmed he would still be presenting the youngster with an offer later this week.
"He has taken up an option to have a look at another club, something which is totally within his right," said Carey.
"He decided to take up the opportunity and there is not a lot we can do about that it. He is not our player, he is not under contract, he is just a trialist.
"We are set to offer him something this week and I am sure we will speak to him over the next few days to see where we are at."
Meanwhile boss Carey admitted that the future of another trialist, Robin Kacaniklc, is also likely to be resolved this week.
Kacaniklc was not involved in Wrexham's tour of Northern Ireland but featured in the matches against Blackburn, Connah's Quay Nomads, Caersws and Newtown - scoring in the latter.
"We will speak to Robin some time this week," said Carey.
"He has been performing quite well for us. Obviously we can't sign everyone but we have been really pleased with the standard of the lads we have had on trial this year.
"It is has been a credit to our scouting department that they are picking up these players."
WREXHAM WILL DO EVERYTHING TO GET UGARTE FIT
Daily Post
WREXHAM manager Brian Carey is prepared to arrange some extra friendly games in order to give Juan Ugarte some much-needed match practice.
The 26-year-old striker yesterday joined his senior squad colleagues in a full training session for the first time in more than six months, but the Dragons boss warned it could be some time before he is ready for first-team football.
"It's good to see him back, but we have to remember that Juan has not been involved to any great extent for the best part of two years," he said.
"He joined in fully this morning but in the first instance we need to see if he suffers any reaction and we'll take things from there.
"Two years is a long time to be out so we will treat him with a little bit of caution."
Wrexham have just two more friendlies - a double-header on Saturday against Hednesford and Newi Cefn Druids - before the League Two season kicks off on August 11, but the Racecourse boss insisted Ugarte would be given every opportunity to step up his rehabilitation.
"Friendly matches can be easily arranged at this time of the year and there would not be a shortage of takers," added Carey. "So I am not too worried on that score, but as I've said, it's early days for Juan at the moment.
"On the other hand Matty Crowell is coming along well and he'll be needing games in the next couple of weeks."
Facing up to the prospect that League One club SwindonTown could trump his contract offer to striker Kaid Mohamed, who was due to guest for Paul Sturrock's side in last night's friendly against BristolCity, Carey said: "We'll have to wait and see.
"Kaid knows we are prepared to offer him a deal, but he rang me last night and said he wanted to keep his options open a little bit longer. The ball is in his court and we are waiting to hear from him."
And, in what could be a veiled message to Mohamed, Carey admitted to some frustration in his attempt to sign the midfield target he has been tracking all summer.
"We are getting to a stage where we will not be messed around for much longer," he added. "I've made that clear to the parties involved and I've also told them that I'm now prepared to move on and look elsewhere."
Meanwhile, teenage Racecourse defender Neil Taylor, who captained Brian Flynn's Wales under-19 side for the first time on Monday evening has an old head on young shoulders, according to Carey.
The youngster, who impressed in last month's friendlies against Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers, might have expected to join his Wrexham colleagues for their week-long stay in Northern Ireland, but Carey decided the international break would be more beneficial.
"I spoke to Brian Flynn before we went and he said Neil had done extremely well in their last game. Neil's maturity apparently stood out and Brian sets great store by such things," said Carey.
"So, although Neil has done well for us in pre-season and looked very comfortable in the games, I felt he would get more from working with Flynnie for 10 days and be guaranteed three games for Wales.
"Being captain of his country will give Neil so much confidence that he will probably be two inches taller when he comes back to us next week."
Wales drew 1-1 with Chile in their opening match of the Milk Cup tournament on Monday and tonight they take on Israel.
