SK Brann accepted an improved offer from Leeds United last night (Sunday) for Jamaican midfielder Rudolph Austin.
Neil Warnock has been linked with Austin for nearly a month now and it appears as if the deal is now in the final stages. This morning Brann's official website broke the story.
The deal went a step further yesterday when Austin was shown his fifth yellow card of the season which means he is suspended for the final game of the season in Norway.
Austin is now expected to complete a training session with Brann (for some reason) before flying to England to complete a medical and personal terms before meeting up with the squad in Cornwall.
Rolf Magne Walstad, the athletic administrative officer for Brann said:
"We agreed with Leeds on the conditions for a transition Sunday night. There have been a calculation for us where we had to measure the value of Rudy's path into the economy of such a transition and we also believe that the player deserves the chance to transfer to Leeds now.
The interest from Leeds has been known for a while, and while Fire has wanted to keep the player as long as possible, it has also been a matter of economy for a transition of one of Fire's best players. Negotiations have been slow, partly because the distance between what Leeds would give the player has been great from what the Fire wanted to get, and partly because we have had a desire to keep Rudy as long as possible.
We had a wish that Rudy would play against Vålerenga next Monda, but since he can not, there's no point in keeping him here. Austin has always been clear that he wanted to have the opportunity to play for Leeds. Rudy has given a wonderful effort in the past few seasons and we think it is right that he should have that opportunity now."
Austin has played 106 games for Brann since his debut in 2008 and in that time scored 16 goals for the club. A tough-tackling defensive midfielder is exactly what United are looking for, with Austin fitting the bill. The fee of around £300,000 will have some fans thinking he's not very good. What's key here is Warnock wanted him for around £3m when he was at QPR. It seems we've got a bargain in Austin due to the Bosman ruling.
Some fans are getting carried away with the ability of Austin, Mika Varynen had a good pedigree before he came to the club and he was woeful. For those of you who haven't seen Austin in action, below is a highlight video.
***Rodolph Austin - Jamaican Warrior*** (via BergenDanny)