Grant: Curo? Oh, Now You Tell Me!

Colchester United forward Jamie Cureton could end up being denied a dream return to Norwich City. And all because the club`s boss admits he 'didn`t realise` that the 31-year-old was for sale.

Peter Grant, who told Sky Sports yesterday he was an admirer of last season`s Championship top-scorer, claimed that he was on holiday around the time that Cureton slapped in his transfer request.

Since then, Norwich have all but completed the signing of Scunthorpe hot-shot Bill Sharpe and joined the chase to sign Southend`s Freddy Eastwood, which almost certainly rules them out of the running for Cureton, who famously made his England Under-21 breakthrough with the Canaries.

Cureton, whose come-and-get-me plea to City this week had looked unnoticed by Grant, is angling for a move back to the club where he scored the fastest goal by a substitute in the Premiership in 1995, a record which stood until Shaun Goater broke it during a 2003 Manchester derby.

Now, however, Grant has admited he would have liked to have brought Cureton back to his debut club, and may still do so after Hull City had two bids, of £250,000 and £450,000 respectvly, turned down by Colchester.

Yesterday, having angered some U`s fans by declaring himself unhappy with the reported £750,000 price tag on his head, Cureton also moved to rectify the situation in the EADT newspaper, saying: "I've really enjoyed the last year at Colchester, and in a way it's disappointing that it's come to this."

He added: "When I said that the club lacked ambition, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Colchester United is a great club and the people here are brilliant."

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