Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce has rubbished reports that
Matthew Upson is poised to complete a move across the city to local
rivals Aston Villa.
The former Arsenal and England defender recently returned to action
after seven months on the sidelines with an Achilles injury.
Upson has 18 months left on his current contract which has alerted
a number of clubs to his availability, but Bruce is desperate to
keep the central defender at St Andrew's.
"I only spoke to Martin O'Neill (Villa boss) a couple of weeks ago
and he never mentioned Upson to me. Where that has come from, I
don't know," claimed Bruce.
"That is just a nonsense of a story and it is not definite that
Upson will move at all in January. Why would we want to sell
arguably our best player when we were top of the league?
"Of course, I have to protect our investment. Unless it is an
ridiculous offer, and every player has got his price, nothing is
happening."