JOEY Beauchamp's move to Premiership club Nottingham Forest was on hold today amid reports that the winger had failed a medical.

Oxford United and Forest had agreed a fee of £800,000 for the 27-year-old player, who struck two classy goals when the U's won 3-1 at the City Ground in January - Malcolm Shotton's first away match in charge.

It seemed just a question of whether Beauchamp, who had earlier turned down moves to Fulham and Manchester City, could agree personal terms following two hours of talks that he and his agent had with Forest boss Dave Bassett at the City Ground yesterday.

However, the Sun and Daily Star newspapers today claimed Beauchamp had failed a medical because of problems which showed up with his back and toe.

Bassett was telling reporters in Nottingham that the deal seemed unlikely to go through because the two parties couldn't agree personal terms.

But if the Daily Star report is correct, Bassett may have been doing this to protect Oxford, who desperately need to sell a player soon to keep the football club alive.

There are reports that Forest are undertaking further medical tests and it's possible they may try to buy Beauchamp on an appearance-related basis. But that wouldn't be much good to Oxford who need cash up front.

The £800,000 fee was considerably less than United would have got at the end of last season when Beauchamp was the side's leading scorer with 19 goals and at the peak of his form.

If the move had gone through, with that fee, United would have pocketed only £655,000 for their prize asset because his former club Swindon Town had a 20 per cent sell-on clause when they sold him to Oxford for £75,000. The Wiltshire club would therefore have received a £145,000 windfall from the sell-on.

The money from Beauchamp's sale would have gone partly towards Aberdeen to pay for Dean Windass, partly for paying the non-playing staff, including Shotton, who have yet to receive their October wages, and partly towards keeping the club as a going concern over the months ahead.

And it's likely that Lloyds Bank, whose representatives met with United MD Keith Cox last week, would have recouped some of it.

Before news emerged of problems with the medical, Shotton said: "If he goes, we'll miss Joey as a player. At times he's real class, but the club's more important than any one player.

"He's always stated he wants to play in the Premier League."

Before snags cropped up in the deal, Bassett thought Forest had got the player on the cheap. He said: "We agreed to deal with Oxford and got him quite cheaply. They needed to do a deal quickly. Joey's a proven player who will give us a bit more strength."

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