TWTD understands that Town are close to completing the loan signing of Hull City midfielder Jimmy Bullard. The 32-year-old is expected at Portman Road today and looks likely to be reunited with his former Wigan boss Paul Jewell in the next few days.

Sources at Hull City confirmed Town’s interest in the ex-West Ham, Peterborough and Fulham man earlier in the week with the Tigers desperate to off-loan the 32-year-old’s £45,000-a-week wage.

As with previous loan deals involving players on Premier League wages, such as last season’s recruitment of Daryl Murphy and David Healy, Town are likely to have agreed to pay only a proportion of the Londoner’s salary.

Bullard joined Hull from Fulham for £5 million during the Tigers’ stint in the Premier League and is contracted until 2013.

Speaking after last night's game at Arsenal, chief executive Simon Clegg was typically taciturn regarding transfer speculation but told TWTD that the first deals of the transfer window were close: “I think that we are near to a couple of situations and I would expect people to be hearing some movement on what our intentions are over the next couple of days.”

Earlier in the week, manager Paul Jewell revealed that the club had made two bids with Bullard and Luton's Andy Drury likely to be the players involved.

Photo: Action Images

bluelady added 11:54 - Jan 26 its well known? well known or speculated....
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TractorMan added 11:56 - Jan 26 All these comments about Norris/McCauley being annoyed with Bullards wages etc is not seeing the bigger picture. We need to stay in the division, or it's likely almost everyone will be taking a paycut if we are in League 1. If Bullard can play a part in this, then it's great business (although not on 45k a week!) Ok, Norris and McCauley may go, but the security of this club is more important and swapping St Ledger for McCauley and Drury of Bullard for Norris isn't such a bad piece of business in the long run.

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bluelady added 11:56 - Jan 26 thanks Phil, missed that 'hint'! Thats good news, just need to get the others sorted now!
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casanovacrow added 11:59 - Jan 26 I think our highest earner atm is Fulop, just over 15k a week. Any percentage of 45k that we'd pay will no doubt dwarf that.
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PeekFreans added 12:01 - Jan 26 "Town are likely to have agreed to pay only a proportion of the Londoner's salary". Plus, it's NOT well known that DN and GM are miles from agreeing a deal. Sun 'journalism' - 1/10.
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clive_baker added 12:04 - Jan 26 Yeah well done Hull good bit of business that was.
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gibbo added 12:07 - Jan 26 So now we find out if it was all Keane the fact we could not sign anyone as well as the un entertaining team we were under Keane.
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byebyesheepshanks added 12:09 - Jan 26 masterstoke. Remember when Merson got Portsmouth out of the championship. Same thing. Quality.
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CleverTrevor added 12:19 - Jan 26 definitely optimistic about this. But why don't Hull want him in the Championship? He's always looked a quality act to me, and will bring some fun into the ITFC set-up - which I'm sure is part of Jewell's thinking. But if he is still a quality player, why hasn't he been part of Hull's plans, while they have been continuing to pay his wages?
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Surco72 added 12:22 - Jan 26 If you want premiership quality you have to pay bigger wages ,and Bullard is without doubt premiership quality . If anyone thinks other players will get upset they need to grow up all clubs have different pay for better players thats life ,and they should be happy that the squad and team are improving. Really good signing for this league the missing quality we need for our midfield and set pieces

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casanovacrow added 12:33 - Jan 26 Surco72 " If anyone thinks other players will get upset they need to grow up all clubs have different pay for better players thats life" Are you telling me a mostly injured past it Bullard is better than a Norris in his prime? Bullard isnt the player he was, if we are gonna get players for who they were and not what they are now we might as well bring back Wark. Without a doubt even if Norris isn't annoyed by this the situation will be giving his agent the idea theres definately more money to be had when facts are that we cant even give him what he wants currently.

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Bergholtblue added 12:33 - Jan 26 In any business plan there is a long term goal, a medium term goal and a short term goal. Our short term goal is to remain in the Championship. If we do capture Bullard, that would be a gigantic step towards that goal. Whether he features medium term and long term remains to be seen. As for his wages, Town could negotiate a very small percentage, as Cardiff did with Man City over Bellamy. As for other players being jealous of his income, then they need to roll their socks up and get us to the Premiership, where they too could reap the rewards.

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BluJu added 12:34 - Jan 26 Imagine... Town win a corner, everyone is up, Bullard places the ball and fires it in.... IT CLEARS THE FIRST MAN!!!! Pure fantasy I know... (then Bullard hobbles off with a knackered knee)
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casanovacrow added 12:38 - Jan 26 Cardiff may be only paying just under 25% of Bellamy's wage but thats still more than our highest earner. Bellamy was on £100,000/week. Saying that 25% of Bullards wage wouldn't kill us, cant see Hull doing that though, unlike Man City they need to shift more of the wage
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bluelady added 12:41 - Jan 26 but Casawhatsitsface you are purely speculating we have absolutely no idea how much of his wages we will pay, it may be 25% it may be 50 it maybe 100% who knows, all i do know is looking at your posts you have a very good way of putting a negative slant on everything, cheer up mate life is too short.
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Surco72 added 12:45 - Jan 26 casanovacrow ... Bullard has scored 2 in 5 starts for Hull since he has played and has got man of the match 3 times ,how many has Wark got this season ? The deal is a loan deal so if he gets injured he goes back to his club like Livermore . Norris has been offered a deal that the club think is suitable if Norris doesnt agree then go to Pompey which will free up more wages for next season ,as far as i can see from what Jewell has said he would like to have Norris and Bullard at the club anyway not one or the other ?

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Keaneish added 12:49 - Jan 26 Another one for the rumour mill. My mate's a massive Palace fan and has just emailed me saying there are strong whispers coming out of Selhurts park that Delaney is headed there.
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Mark added 12:52 - Jan 26 Bullard would be an exciting signing and possibly just the character we need, see www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/football-banter/Jimmy-Bullard-s-10-funniest-moments-article237015.html Whether this is a good deal or not all depends how what percentage of his wages we will pay. Also, I wonder whether there will be a chance of a permanent deal? That seems unlikely unless Hull pay him off, as with 2.5 years on a £45K a week contract, that is £5.9M they still owe him in wages of a £9.4M contract!! Add on the £5M transfer fee Hull paid and divide by the 23 appearances he has made and that shows he has cost them £630K per appearance.

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Worcester added 12:55 - Jan 26 Will we lose some of last night team in the window as they now no longer have a final in february to look forward to? Hope Bullard can stay fit
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casanovacrow added 12:57 - Jan 26 5 starts in half a season, thats not exactly a good statistic. I'd love to be wrong but value for money isn't something that springs to mind. If you work out the wages per start that would rival the likes of Wayne Rooney Keane also said he wanted to keep Norris, what the manager wants and what the manager gets isn't the same thing in recent times.
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katemoss added 13:06 - Jan 26 Snnnnooooooooooooooozzze. Wake me up when they actually sign someone.
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Karlosfandangal added 13:14 - Jan 26 Bullards wages Must remember that out of the 21 who's contract are up only about 10 of those would be worth keeping (IMO) Counago,Lisbie and Quinn have not featured for us this year, so the club will be freeing up around £1-£1.5 million in wages per year. Also if Norris were to leave that would mean £30 -£35k a week in wages, so it could be possible plus all the loan players going back McAuley and Delaney possible going and possible St Leager and Duray coming in, Dont think the wage bill would increase that much if we were to sign him perminant. However IF and i mean IF McAuley and Norris are asking more money and the club have said no, then its a bit of a kick in the teeth if we brake the bank for Bullard, because of his injuries a loan deal would be better and then only if Hull pay most of his wage, if they did that I would think we would have to pay a loan fee. only my opinion but who really knows the real in's and out's

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Fatboy added 13:17 - Jan 26 Bullard turned down a season-long loan to Celtic in the summer, apparently because he wanted Celtic to pay him £30K a week on top of the £45K a week he is getting from Hull. From what I can tell, Hull fans just see him as an expensive mistake and want to get rid. As others have said on here, at least if we get him in on loan we can see how it goes and then send him back if it's not working out.

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suffolkpoker added 13:18 - Jan 26 i think we would be looking to pay between 20 to 30% of his wages realisticly If he can stay fit and recapture some of his top form, this will be a GREAT signing. on the other foot, he might get injured with a shopping trollie (ian marshall) and be out all season. On a serious note, there is normally a clause in any loan contract if the player gets injured he goes back to his club. Which makes the risk very small :-)

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Loyal_Blue_11 added 13:18 - Jan 26 would be good to have him aboard (Y) especially since Norris looks to be off!
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