Town are continuing to chase Preston North End defender Sean St Ledger, according to some of this morning’s tabloids. On Tuesday the Blues were reported to have been quoted a fee of £2.5 million for the Irish international.

Owner and chairman Marcus Evans showed his willingness to hand new boss Paul Jewell significant transfer cash earlier in the week when a deal understood to be well in excess of £1 million was agreed with Swindon for Charlie Austin, the striker ultimately joining Burnley after Town were unable to agree personal terms.

Evans would probably not stretch to paying as much as £2.5 million for St Ledger but at 26 the centre-half, who is rated as one of the best defenders outside the Premier League, is likely to have a future resale value.

Preston would in reality probably accept a figure somewhat lower than the one quoted earlier in the week, despite St Ledger being under contract until 2012.

Having progressed through the youth system at Peterborough, St Ledger went on loan to Stevenage Borough in 2004.

After making the breakthrough at Posh, the Birmingham-born defender joined Preston in July 2006 for a fee of £225,000.

St Ledger moved to Middlesbrough on loan at the start of last season, having impressed in his time at Deepdale. The short-term spell was expected to turn into a £4 million permanent switch but the 5ft 11in tall defender failed to settle in the North-East and returned to Preston.

Qualifying to play for Ireland via his grandfather from Carlow, St Ledger has won 16 full caps and has scored two goals.

Continuing reports that the Blues are looking to move for an experienced right-sided central defender are likely to increase speculation that Gareth McAuley’s time at Town might be close to coming to an end.

The Northern Irishman, whose current Blues contract is up in the summer, turned down Town’s initial offer of a two-year deal before Christmas, with SPL giants Rangers having been interested in signing the 31-year-old last summer but failing to match the club’s valuation.

McAuley and skipper David Norris were due to speak to new boss Paul Jewell regarding their futures towards the end of last week. The January transfer window closes at 11pm on Monday night.

Photo: Action Images

KangarooBlue added 11:06 - Jan 30 Top quality defender, as already mentioned, one of the best outside the Premiership, go for it Evans
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Shauny78 added 11:11 - Jan 30 sounds a decent player if they can drop the price a little-go for it,if we can keep Macauly all the better what a defence that would be!
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Mungo added 11:17 - Jan 30 Good player, but surely it would be more cost effective to keep MacAuley and Delaney? Not sure I see the point on us spending big money on a centre back when there are other areas that need attention (right back, forward, wide midfield?) Note to Simon Clegg - Players will only have a future resale value if their contracts are not allowed to run down!
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ITFCkezza added 11:22 - Jan 30 Wouldn't be too upset if this guy replaces McAuley, may even be better!
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Blue_Fred added 11:29 - Jan 30 It won't happen! Can't see another signing before Monday night - and I'd rather that than a panic buy. Norris and McAuley are leaving in the summer for free and we will have to wait until the summer for the 2011/12 squad to start to take shape. however I do believe we are much better off with the new Management team in place and am comfortable that we will be playing championship footie again next season.

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italiano added 11:29 - Jan 30 No no no no!!!! A friend of mine who's a Preston season-ticket holder says she'd drive him down here for 500K, let alone 2.5M. He's a shadow of the player he was a few years ago. I really think this is a bad move from what I've heard from those who watch him week in, week out.
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jordo88 added 11:31 - Jan 30 Hmm if thats true italiano then bad times as i had high hopes for this guy!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 11:31 - Jan 30 too expensive, i'd rather have the central defender that Preston want from Hull
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buresmac added 11:38 - Jan 30 Buy St Ledger, Keep Macauly & Delaney, then play Macauly at right back where he plays for Northern Ireland. Would have a solid back 4 with Eastman & Smith as backup.
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Bluetone added 11:44 - Jan 30 No chance if Clegg progresses at his normal snail like pace it will be summer before he is ready to conclude negotiations, probably unsuccessfully.
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Maccattack added 11:50 - Jan 30 Or he gets down here, and Clegg offers him only a fraction of what he's earning at Preston, i'd have him down here, but I have absolutely no faith in Clegg getting the deal done, Oh and also, they're probs not seeing the best from him Italiano, because they're bottom of the table, so things such as confidence would come into play surely?
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NorthstaNder added 11:51 - Jan 30 I'm not going to get excited about this, or any other potential signings, until the deal is done. I got my fingers burned with the Austin saga!
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ThatMuhrenCross added 11:54 - Jan 30 5'11"... bit of a shorty for a centre-half wouldn't you say? Can't imagine he'd ever win the same amount of aerial balls as GMac and Big D.
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Mark added 11:54 - Jan 30 It's almost a novelty to sign a player who may have a resale value, as all our big money signings over recent years have left for free or peanuts thanks to a combination of signing older players and letting players contracts run down/out! I guess part of it was the short-term thinking under the last regime due to the quick promotion target. Walters is the only exception I can think of, who we bought cheap and sold for good money. I don't know much about St Ledger, he may be a good player but if we really do spend £2M+ on a replacement for McAuley who is allowed to leave on a free than that seems crazy business sense to me. The Delaney and McAuley centre back combination is the best we have had for many years, isn't it?! If we could sign those two up, backed up by able deputies Smith and Brown, we seem okay at centre back.

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StowTractorBoy added 12:00 - Jan 30 Sorry but St. Ledger has never been the same since the serious injury he incurred. Have seen him a couple of times on the box this season and against Hull in particular he was awful to say the least. His best spell was at Preston first time around but at Middlesbrough he was a complete flop. Please don't waste any money on him and he is not that big either. Just give MCauleythe deal he wants as with Norris it will will save a lot of money in the long term and at least you know what you will get.

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dirtydingusmagee added 12:09 - Jan 30 stupid if this happens, could have sorted contracts last year Big Mac ,Norris be settled and money could have been used for decent striker, P J has inherited a bloody shambles .
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itfc1981 added 12:21 - Jan 30 worth a bet
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RIPbobby added 12:26 - Jan 30 We all knew of his ability when he was at Posh, we obviously didn't fancy him then. Saying that £1 million will probably tempt them.
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Wickets added 12:29 - Jan 30 Great Player, if he's for sale we must try and get him. Am i the only one who thinks we should pocket our pride, admitt our mistake and try to buy Jorden Rhodes back as we didn't Austin?
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Wickets added 12:31 - Jan 30 Missed get out, last but one word!! well it is Sunday.
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Gilesy added 12:35 - Jan 30 Still got people slagging off Clegg for not signing someone mentioned by a tabloid and with no evidence whatsoever to back anything up at all. Sometimes I long for the days before the internet when half-wits didn't have a voice and didn't have the opportunity to convert speculation into fact.
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howdonblue added 12:45 - Jan 30 Why don't we as stFcRed and see what he thinks lol
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WeWereZombies added 12:47 - Jan 30 Sounds like the St. Ledger signing has a few hurdles to jump before the finish line.
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Garv added 12:51 - Jan 30 Do you want a striker whoa out for two months wickets?
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Wickets added 13:02 - Jan 30 Yes
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