Harriers cash in on Barnes-Homer
Kidderminster Harriers have cashed in on Matthew Barnes-Homer and allowed their star player to join Luton - but still managed to bring two strikers in before the loan deadline.
The club finally succumbed to the overtures of their Blue Square Premier rivals yesterday and allowed the England C international to leave, initially on loan, with a binding permanent deal in place when the transfer window reopens in January.
Details of the transfer fee are undisclosed at Luton's request, but the Express & Star understands that it took nearly a six-figure sum to prise the 23-year-old away from Harriers, with another interested party in Oxford subsequently priced out of the race.
The Hatters also added the carrot of adding striker Ryan Charles in part exchange on loan, with Kettering's Damian Spencer - a former team-mate of Yates from his playing days at Cheltenham - also signed on a temporary basis.
Charles and Spencer will be expected to plug the gap until January and the manager concedes the sale is a "great deal" for the club.
He said: "We have not been active in letting him go, believe me, and it took a great financial package for us to agree to the move.
"Matthew asked to speak to them and I don't have a problem with that. Personal terms have been fantastic for him, and who are we to stop the kid going there to earn some real money?"
Yates now has the rare financial luxury of room to manoeuvre in the transfer window with the coffers at Aggborough swelled by the sale of Barnes-Homer, and a month to think over the long-term replacement for their departed striker.
A mid-season swell last season saw the likes of current striker Chris McPhee brought into the club, and the manager is looking forward to having that sort of muscle again.
He said: "We can now assess where we are in January with cash in the pot for what we want to do. We won't spend money on transfer fees, but we now have time to have a good scour around and make decisions in good time."
Either Charles or Spencer will make their debut alongside Robbie Matthews with AFC Wimbledon the visitors to Aggborough tomorrow, and the other will be on the bench.
Yates will now try and get his mind back on the task in hand after a busy couple of day.
He said: "It's important that we now put this matter to bed and focus on the game, I am confident that the players can do that. They have been kept informed, there will be two new faces training today and one of them will definitely be playing."
