After months of prevaricating and rumours linking him with a move to Wycombe Wanderers, Steve Basham today signed a new contract with Oxford. It is unclear how long the contract is for, but the implication from the official web site is that it is for one year, as it says “Basham has agreed to join United again for the coming season” (or are we reading too much into that?).

Certainly this will be a popular move following the bad news of Bobby Ford’s retirement from the professional game after failing to agree terms with the club, as Basham is undoubtedly a striker of great potential, which unfortunately wasn’t realised last season. However, it does leave a question mark over what formation United will be using next season as the club has a glut of forward players that Kevin Keegan would be proud of.

With the signings of Julian Alsop and Mark Rawle, and with Andy Scott and now Basham signing new contracts, the club now has eight players who could lead the line (once Lee Steele and Jamie Brooks regain fitness). This makes it imperative that the transfer-listed Jefferson Louis and Manny Omoyinmi are able to move on soon, to free up resources for players to fill midfield and defensive roles, where there is now something of a dearth of available squad members.