Name: Curtis Tilt
Age: 29
Position: CB
Current Club: Rotherham United
Availability: Loan
Likelihood: 5/10
Curtis Tilt spent the first half of this season at fellow
League One club Wigan, but his short term loan move was not extended given the troubles the Latics are currently experiencing.
However, it is thought that Rotherham will be looking to send
Tilt back out on loan to another League One club, and with Oxford still without
suitable defensive cover heading into the final third of the January window, a
short term move for the 29-year-old may suit Robinson’s side.
Tilt spent 2 and a half years at the heart of Blackpool’s
defence and captained the side on many occasions, but moved away to Rotherham in
January of last year.
It paid with promotion to the Championship, but in truth the
move has not been so successful. Injury kept him out of his first six Rotherham
appearances, and he managed a meagre 60 minutes before the season was
curtailed.
He has been largely on the peripheral of Rotherham’s
squad ever since, and with The Millers heavily linked with a loan move themselves
for Stoke centre back Liam Lindsay, it appears that won’t be changing in the
remainder of this season.
It makes a drop down to League One level back on the cards, and there are numerous League One clubs linked with a move for him.
Charlton, Ipswich and Portsmouth have all been credited with
an interest, along with a potential return to Blackpool, but
with nothing yet materialising, Oxford - who have also been mentioned in discussions - could be as good a destination as any.
He is a player with valuable experience at League One level and
has proved himself as having a superb attitude and leadership skills, more than capable of slotting into any side.
Left footed, Tilt would provide the short-term cover that
Oxford need for Atkinson and - if needed - Moore.
Tilt would also offer another physical presence at the back, with his aerial duels win percentage for Wigan this season sitting at 72.73%, greater than Moore (65.28%) and Atkinson
(66.7%).
He does fall down slightly in his passing play. His
passing accuracy of 61.17% is nearly 15% lower than both of Oxford’s current
first choice centre backs, and he completes nearly half the number of short
passes per match than Moore and Atkinson who both have over 30 compared to
Tilt’s 16.4.
These, however, are stats taken from only his last two
seasons and may be more reflective of the respective form of his Blackpool and
Wigan sides.
Tilt is comfortable enough on the ball, and that won’t be too worrying for Robinson anyway given his defensive attributes make him a more than viable loan option to provide cover for Oxford in the compact season.
Name: Chris Maguire
Age: 32
Position: CAM/RW/LW
Current Club: Sunderland AFC
Availability: Pre-Contract
Likelihood: 6/10
The penalty celebration. The keep-ups in the corner against Swansea. The seven in a row fingers against Swindon.
Even at 32 Oxford fans would surely take him back, although a January
switch does not seem likely. This move would instead be for next season, but could be implemented as early as this January depending on Maguire's talks with Sunderland.
Maguire is one of 19 Sunderland players out of contract this
summer, and their current squad is reported to be £7 million over the £2.5
million salary cap.
Promotion to the championship would solve some of these issues,
with their squad well below the proposed £18 million cap there – which is expected
to be rejected anyway – but even if promotion does materialise, Maguire may find himself available in the
summer.
Though still an important member of the squad, Maguire’s
impact this season has been less prominent.
He is averaging less goals and assists per game this season than his last two campaigns and has only started 11 of their matches this term.
With this somewhat waning impact and his age, a new contract
at Sunderland seems unlikely at their current state – sitting in 9th
position and nine points off the top two.
Maguire, then, is likely to be available in the summer and
Oxford could look to put that in action from an early stage.
A January move may still not be out of the question though. Maguire has
started only one game since Lee Johnson’s arrival, and that came in the 1-0
home defeat where Johnson had less than 24 hours to decide his squad. Since
then, Maguire has managed only 109 minutes in Sunderland’s last five matches.
Still, Johnson may want to keep Maguire’s experience and undoubtable talent
in a season where they have had a torrid time with injuries and COVID. But in
the summer, Maguire will likely be a free agent, and Oxford – in particular
Robinson who seems like the ideal manager for someone in Maguire's mould – could swoop.
A player who scored 23 goals and registered 19 assists over
his two years at Oxford would no doubt be a welcome return, and Maguire’s
influence goes well beyond the stats and figures.
He may want to remain in the North, but if Maguire still has
ambitions to play League One football next year, then Oxford could be his best
option and a pre-contract agreement within the next few months could confirm that.
Name: Jordan Jones
Age: 26
Position: RW/LW
Current Club: Rangers
Availability: Loan
Likelihood: 5/10
As Ranger’s continue their pursuit for another Oxford target
Scott Wright - who was evaluated in an earlier article - the future of their current wide man Jordan
Jones looks more and more likely to be away from the Glasgow club.
Many sources have linked Jones with a loan move away from the Scottish Premiership leaders this month,
and with time moving on, Oxford could be in the market to make a late chase for
the Northern Ireland international.
The winger, who is right footed but likes to play on the
left wing, has made only three appearances for Rangers this term, and judging
by Gerrard’s desire to bring in another winger this January – Scott Wright
would play in a very similar position to Jones too – a move away for some game time
would seem the best option for him and the club.
Jones is relatively quick and is more than willing to run
directly at a side.
Judging by last season’s statistics for Rangers – where he
still played less than ten games – he averaged 2.2 take-ons per match at a rate of
38.46%, higher than all of Oxford’s current starting wingers, with only Rob
Hall boasting such a volume of dribbling stats.
 |
| How Oxford's most likely creators compared with Jones last year (min 5+ league appearances) |
His technical ability means he would be more than capable of
playing on the right wing as well as the left, as he did for much of his time
at Kilmarnock where he averaged a goal every four games.
In fact, this goal scoring ability is one of Jones’ great
strengths, having scored in his first start of this season too against Motherwell – playing on the right wing in that one.
Robinson has recently said that he is still in the market
for a winger and a centre back, and Jones could just be the man to fill Oxford's gap.
Jones provides a creative and goal scoring
threat which Oxford could use heading into the back end of the season.
Combining Oxford’s ability to find Northern Ireland talent and pick up players from the Scottish leagues – along with Robinson’s strong relationship with Gerrard – Oxford is a very possible destination for Jones this January.
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