League One latest: Portsmouth rivals set to loosen purse strings to land in-demand defender ahead of Lincoln City, Burnley and Ipswich Town

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The January window is nearly upon us – here’s the lastest from around League One as we get set for a busy period of recruitment.

Trai on his way

Sunderland are leading the chase for in-demand Linfield defender Trai Hume.

The Northern Ireland under-21 international is being linked with a move to England in January, with a £200,000 valuation on his head.

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Linfield boss David Healy can see the right-back moving on by the end of next month with Lincoln, Ipswich Town and Burnley all said to be keen.

When asked if Hume would be leaving, he told Belfast Live: 'I would imagine so if somebody is going to agree terms with the football club.

‘We always had huge belief in Trai and since he came back he has done everything we expected and everything we had hoped.

‘I’m on record before saying I was shocked - absolutely shocked - that he didn’t get an opportunity to go across the water when he was younger.

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Linfield's Trai Hume is set to move to England. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)Linfield's Trai Hume is set to move to England. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
Linfield's Trai Hume is set to move to England. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

‘Others went in his age group but it gave us the opportunity to work with him and he’s probably one of the youngest players we signed on a professional contract.

‘Trai is only going to get better, he’s getting stronger, he’s getting fitter and if he can add a little bit more quality in the final third the sky’s the limit for him.’

New Donny boss wants done dealsGary McSheffrey has targeted up to five new January signings after being appointed Doncaster manager.

McSheffrey has succeeded Richie Wellens at the Keepmoat Stadium - and wants to overhaul his options in the coming weeks.

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He told the Yorkshire Post: ‘We've had a couple of recruitment meetings, we've got some targets, we want to bring in some permanent signings that are available in January.

‘They might be on short-term contracts or might be released from their contracts by other clubs because they're surplus to requirements and then we want to make good

decisions on what we do in the loan market. Do we send one or two back to free up space?

‘In an ideal world we'll be looking at trying to get four or five decent additions to the squad and the group we work with every day now, we'll be trying to get every ounce out of them.’

Players for promotion push

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Leam Richardson believes Wigan need to bolster their squad to maintain their status as promotion chasers.

The former Pompey No2 is out to add recruits to his Latics camp, with a busy fixture schedule on the horizon over the second half of the campaign.

Richardson told Wigan Today: ‘We want to be able to peak every three days, for most of the rest of the season, and to do that we’ll need the right numbers in the squad.

‘January is renowned for being a tough window. Unlike the summer, there’s no free agents, you’re generally dealing with loans, with the odd purchase.

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‘At whatever football club you’re at, you’ll have in mind what you deem as success, and you have to recruit within that. Discussions have obviously been taking place within our football club for a number of weeks now.

‘The goal is always to come out of every window stronger than when you went in. And if we’re going to get to the position in the football pyramid where we’re aiming – and that’s me, the chairman, the chief executive, the board – we need to strengthen accordingly.’

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