As the transfer window draws to a close, it has been a busy week for Oxford United. One in, one out and several more links were mentioned. On the field, the U’s recorded another two league wins. Here is the Oxford United weekly round-up.
Oxford United Weekly Round-Up: Transfer News and Two More Wins
Injury Update
Oxford United ended last week with a win over Bristol Rovers but began the week with an injury update on Marcus McGuane. The Nottingham Forest loanee picked up a thigh injury against the Gas and has been ruled out for “four or five weeks,” according to U’s boss Karl Robinson.
Oxford Continue Winning Run
It was a historic week for Oxford United on the field. On Tuesday night, the U’s edged past Rochdale in a seven-goal thriller with Mide Shodipo scoring an injury-time winner.
Dan Agyei put the U’s ahead but Dale led 2-1 at the break. Oxford levelled through Elliott Moore and restored their lead through James Henry but were pegged back again before Shodipo netted his eighth goal of an impressive loan spell.
The result was the first time Oxford won seven successive games for the first time since 1985.
Onto Saturday and the winning run continued. Oxford welcomed Fleetwood Town – a team they had never previously beaten in any of their 12 meetings – and secured the victory through a first-half Josh Ruffels header.
Eight games unbeaten is a joint club record and one they will be looking to extend that next week.
Transfer News for the U’s
Following the U’s win at Rochdale, Oxford were linked with Fleetwood Town midfielder Harrison Biggins. The 24-year-old, who is on loan at Barrow, is out of contract in the summer.
However, the report also claimed that Plymouth are interested in the midfielder, but manager Ryan Lowe confirmed that neither he nor Oxford boss Karl Robinson were looking at signing him.
Onto Friday, and it was a busy one. Firstly, Robinson announced his desire to sign out of favour Sunderland striker Will Grigg. The pair worked together at MK Dons when Grigg scored 22 goals in 50 appearances as the Dons secured promotion to the Championship.
Hours later and Oxford made their first signing of the winter window. In need of defensive reinforcements, the U’s snapped up 21-year-old Luke McNally on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee from St Patrick’s Athletic.
But, before the day was done, the U’s saw the departure of Jordan Obita. Supporters had mixed emotions on the parting of the 27-year-old, but having signed on a free in November, Oxford sold the left-sided player for an undisclosed fee to Wycombe Wanderers.
Following the Fleetwood victory, news emerged that Oxford had rejected a £500,000 bid from Millwall for midfielder Cameron Brannagan. The 24-year-old has made over 100 appearances for Oxford since his arrival in January 2018 and has been an integral part of the team. Injury has limited his game time his season but Oxford would be looking for a much more substantial fee if they were to depart with the midfielder.
Five Minutes Fans Forum – Oxford Transfer Update, Contract News and Loan Players Staying Put
On Thursday, Karl Robinson was the guest on BBC Radio Oxford’s Five Minutes Fans Forum. The topics he covered included that Derick Osei Yaw was training with Cheltenham Town ahead of a potential loan move, out of contract players will be addressed in March, and McGuane and Shodipo can’t now be recalled from their loans by their parent clubs.
Main Photo
