Behind the scenes on transfer window’s final day as the Hatters bagged their top target in a loan deal
“C
an my dog live in the apartment?” Ben Osborn asks Stockport’s first-team scouting operations manager, Dale Hargan. The Derby midfielder is about to undergo a medical before joining the League One side on a season-long loan and there are questions that need to be answered.
It is deadline day and Osborn has left his East Midlands home for the prospect of more regular playing time. He will be one of three arrivals at Edgeley Park before the window closes, the end of half a year of planning for Stockport. It looks like everything has gone smoothly when Osborn eventually signs the relevant paperwork at 6pm in the boardroom at the club’s training ground clad in official merchandise. Relief can be seen on the faces of the recruitment team. Their hard work has paid off.
Walking through the training ground door at 10am, the message is loud and clear: “It is manic already.” Everton’s Tyler Onyango and Rochdale’s Corey Edwards have joined on loan. The announcements will come later, but unknowns are the enemy. Stockport have a plan but a bid for one of their key assets will change the course of the day without notice.
