Town boss Jim Magilton has confirmed the Blues' continuing interest in Málaga central defender César Navas. The Spaniard underwent surgery to insert a plate in his foot on Tuesday after breaking it in his trial game for Town at Crawley, and is expected to be out of action for two months.

As reported by TWTD earlier in the week, Magilton and Town's medical staff will monitor the 27-year-old's recovery with a view to signing him prior to the end of the August transfer window: “If César had stayed fit I would like to think he would be an Ipswich player by now.

“He is what we are looking for to give us more defensive depth. We will see how he recovers and then take it from there. We know there is a fee involved, and this is something we will deal with.”

Spanish reports set the proposed fee at €500,000 (£336,000), the player's value having dropped due to his two months on the sidelines. Navas has a year left on his contract at Málaga with the Spanish second division side keen to rid themselves of his La Liga-sized wages. The former Real Madrid B player spent the second half of last season on loan at Gimnàstic de Tarragona.

Navas is known to want to move to England with Sunderland and Reading linked in January and is a close friend of former Málaga team-mate Pablo Couñago.

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