Town are set to sign Sheffield Wednesday central defender Richard Wood, according to reports this evening. The 24-year-old was previously linked with the Blues, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Coventry City back in June.

Wood, who is said to be costing Town £800,000, has only a year left on his contract at Hillsborough, although earlier in the summer Owls manager Brian Laws said he was confident that the 6ft 3in tall defender would put pen to paper on new terms.

The Osset-born player came through Wednesday's youth system and is their longest-serving player, having made his first team debut in 2003.

A Wednesday supporter, he was named joint-captain along with Steve Watson last summer but handed in a transfer request in September, which was rejected by the the club. Interest from Crystal Palace, Birmingham City and Coventry City was subsequently reported.

In November last year, Wednesday exercised an option to extend Wood's contract by a year until the summer of 2010.

In 2005/06 Wood was included in a Football League Select side which faced an Italian Serie B team and has now made 171 starts and 12 sub appearances for his only club, scoring eight goals, two of them coming in his last two games.

A central defender appears to be one of Roy Keane’s priorities during the final hours of the transfer window with Celtic’s Darren O’Dea linked over the weekend.

The former Irish U21 international skipper is now said to have signed a new contract with the Bhoys but is set to join a Championship side who aren’t Town on loan tomorrow. Wolves are also reported to be interested in a temporary switch.

Elsewhere, young Spanish striker Joselu, believed to be interesting the Blues earlier in the summer, has signed for Real Madrid from Celta Vigo, but has immediately been loaned back to his former club.

Photo: Action Images

MarkITFC added 23:08 - Aug 31 who ?
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ljkITFC added 23:08 - Aug 31 not the signing i was hoping for .... but it will have to do..
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Nazemariner added 23:10 - Aug 31 An Englishman...Thank F***!
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Luke8644 added 23:11 - Aug 31 hes a tall, strong CB who has good appearnace and expereince record, and he will probably replace pim, fank fuke!, good signing if you ask me
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JSmith added 23:13 - Aug 31 certainly wasn't expecting this
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bedsitfc added 23:13 - Aug 31 and a creative midfielder (ben watson) and maybe jackson from gillingham then a left back that will be us sorted
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OnlyOneSirBobby added 23:14 - Aug 31 don't know much about him, but glad we're making progress, always thought we needed another CB, even before the season began, and he certainly has good size and is still young...sounds promising
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FootballsMyLife added 23:17 - Aug 31 Would be a great addition. The defence needs toughening and this man would do that for sure!
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Lightningboy added 23:19 - Aug 31 Wood's a very big strong centre back - just what we need..i'm not believing any of these transfers until they actually happen tho!
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BlueMagic added 23:20 - Aug 31 Still don't see why it matters what nationality our players are in all honesty, as long as they're fit to wear the shirt. Would you be complaining if Robbie Keane was linked, because he's irish y'know?
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PablosRightBoot added 23:25 - Aug 31 Transfer acitivity! Finally! Let's all have a disco let's all have a dicso da da da da!
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Country_Boy added 23:44 - Aug 31 Wood be quality (excuse the awful pun). Haven't seen him much, but on FIFA he is fooking awesome. He also develops into a top, top, top player. Very exciting.
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BLUEBEAT added 01:15 - Sep 1 COOK THE MAN SOME IGGZ!
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Tractorog added 01:24 - Sep 1 Will it happen or is this more hot air? Triggs will be signing juat as soon as the kennel club can fax over the transfer papers. Apparently he dribbles and drools with the ball really well - but he does have a habbit of sniffing the oppositions bums and as for what he did the last time he was asked to mark the post... in front of 30,000 fans it was disgraceful!
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Redmond added 02:38 - Sep 1 Looks like a good signing if we get him :p tall and strong and has loads of experience in this league so would be a good signing and I agree with one of the comments about signing simone jackson he is quality
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yun added 03:40 - Sep 1 Just had a scan through the first team squad this morning. Centre midfield and centre back options looking very limited at the moment. Scary. This sounds like a decent signing. Has good experience and at an age where he can still progress. Let's see if RK can make it happen.
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tommyblue added 06:59 - Sep 1 would be a good signing, id have tommy spurr from wednesday at the same time, simeon jackson, worth a gamble
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phil13 added 07:37 - Sep 1 A good signing but i think we need carlos edwards and grant leadbitter too.
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ItfcLoyal added 08:01 - Sep 1 Sounds like a good signing :)
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 08:08 - Sep 1 Can't see why we would want to lose McCauley, even if Wood came. If Boro do want him, doesn't that tell you something about his ability? Also, we seem to be selling players for about half of what we bought them for only a short time ago. Of course we know nothing about what is really going on. Maybe there really will be surprises, but I'm not holding my breath. All will be revealed (hopefully) by 17:00 today. But if the team strengthening is only partially resolved by then (the most likely scenario) then I suppose we'll be into the loan carousel instead. COYB

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rayman_10 added 09:24 - Sep 1 Get Wood but still keep McAuley. both will be usefull. Get Smith and Pim out on loan for a bit to get first team experience and have Bruce,Wood, McAuley, (Delaney, Thatcher and Brown if needed) at CB
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Jimmy86 added 14:22 - Sep 1 would be a good signing, saw him play against town last season and had walters tied up for most of the game at set plays etc, so much so in fact walters had a bit of a pop at him so was clearly frustrated, at 6 ft 3 would add height and strength to the backline
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Hegarty added 10:07 - Sep 2 did we get Wood says in the Sun we did.
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