As part of the extended loan deal Sunderland will have a 24 hour recall on Joe meaning even if we have him on loan we may be only 24 hours from another goalkepping crisis.
Merson may yet try to sign Murphy on a pernament basis once the transfer window re-opens in January. Murphy at present stands little chance of first team football at Sunderland. he may welcome the chance of joining us on a full time basis as it would give him the chance of regular football in a bid to get a move to a championship/premiership club further down the line, but this time to a club that would have brought him in to play rather than be no.3 which he has been at WBA and Sunderland.
If we signed Joe in January it would be expected that Andy Oakes would leave when he current deal expires in May. Oakes has been a fairly consistant performer since he arrived at the club but has struggled with a wrist injury this season in a re-occurance of a past injury that has halted his progress previously in his career.