Portsmouth administrator Trevor Birch expects Town target Joel Ward to leave Fratton Park in the next few days. Contrary to reports last week, Birch says Leeds isn’t necessarily his destination with the Blues and Burnley also having held talks, and Crystal Palace linked.

Birch, who has received no offers for any other Pompey player, said: “Joel Ward will be the next to go but I am not certain of the timescale on that. That is progressing. I would have thought something should be happening in the next few days.

“It is not necessarily going to be Leeds. He has met a few other clubs in total and has been talking things over with them. We are waiting to see what the outcome will be.”

Town have been targeting Ward, who will reportedly leave his hometown club for a fee of £450,000, since January when he was one of three Pompey players they were chasing.

Offers were accepted for Ward and keeper Stephen Henderson, who is now with West Ham, but the moves broke down over personal terms. A bid for central defender Jason Pearce was turned down and the former Bournemouth man recently moved to Leeds. Pearce and Ward are close friends, which may be what has led to speculation that the Whites are frontrunners for the latter’s signature.

According to reports in Yorkshire, Leeds boss Neil Warnock is hopeful that he can complete two signings, believed to be Ward and Derby’s Paul Green, before the end of the week.

Blues manager Jewell, who signed out-of-contract midfielder Green from Doncaster when he was at Pride Park, has played down his interest in the 29-year-old Irish international.

Ward, 22, played under Burnley boss Eddie Howe during a spell on loan at Bournemouth in 2008/09 while the Clarets manager was in charge of the Cherries.

Meanwhile, sources in the North-East continue to link departing Blue Grant Leadbitter with a summer Bosman switch to Middlesbrough, as has been reported since March.

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

walberswick added 11:30 - May 15 “It is not necessarily going to be Leeds.But it starts with an L and ends in a S"
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Sindre94 added 11:31 - May 15 I bet hes moving Leeds. Would like to get him, but if he wanna move to the dirty leeds then so be it.
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Sindre94 added 11:31 - May 15 LipswichS?
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geography26 added 11:32 - May 15 Is there anyone Leeds don't want? Apparently they're after Norris and Halford aswell now! As much as I would like Ward to come here I don't see it happening! Will be a leads player next season.
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ArnieM added 11:32 - May 15 Of course he's gouing to leeds. Pull the other one Birch, you're just trying to up the fee!/ deal to line your own pockets!
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sudburyblue16 added 11:40 - May 15 ArnieM....Birch is trying to line his own pockets?!!! Have you any idea? He's their administrator FFS. Highly unlikely he's trying to make a fast buck for himself out of any sales!
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buryblue77 added 11:43 - May 15 Ok so we often seem to get done on this one, losing out our targets to another club, I know Leeds have so far only signed one player we had showed interest in but if Ward goes and Green (speculative was the rumour about Green, we don't know how accurate it was) then it's happening again. Top tip for the next window, let's tell everybody a load of sh1t, pretend we're interested in players who we're not really interested in, someone else will step in and sign them, leaving us to pick up the players we really want.

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Michael11 added 11:49 - May 15 Agree with ArnieM this is purely to see if this forces any other teams into making a higher bid for him. Pretty sure he'll follow Pearce to Leeds, i think we should go for Greg Halford now.
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Garv added 12:04 - May 15 Genuinely don't care anymore. Phil you must get so bored writing the same story every week?
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alliedaz added 12:10 - May 15 gosh shock horror not another player linked to ipswich and probably going to another club. when can we have the news that a player with some class wants to come and play for us. oh yeah 4got dont 4get to every1 who we are chasing after next
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rosseden added 12:15 - May 15 suspect a lot of good players will find themselves caught short come the end of the transfer window, he isnt one of them, but will be interestign to see who ends up being available..... we might get some pleasant surprises!
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ArnieM added 12:17 - May 15 FAOsudburyblue: my mistake , Im "guilty" of not reading the article properly , I thought he was the players agent!
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mightytown added 12:18 - May 15 well, if he signs then great, if not then its no disaster by any stretch. ward and pearce together was an exciting prospect to boost our defence but ward on his own still leaves some questions to be answered; will he replace edwards at right back? or delaney at centre back? is he good enough to play centre mid? what is his best position? and would he be a consistent starter that improves on what we've got? in regard to leeds, ward and pearce together makes sense but norris and green? dont forget they've released alot of players aswell as transfer listing the likes of ramon nunez and adam clayton, they've recently lost howson, scmeichel, delph will be on his way back to villa and who's to say if they will be able to hold onto snodgrass over the summer? looks like a radical overhaul of players with less than awe inspiring replacements

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buryblue77 added 12:23 - May 15 But surely you've all heard by now, someone is off to the Olmpics, maybe we'll land our targets after all!
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johnwalkstash added 12:23 - May 15 Wish we would just forget about him had his chance to come here more than once let leeds have him let's get players who want to join us
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mightytown added 12:29 - May 15 also, i agree with rosseden. we may do well to stay out of the early scramble for players. i think we will see a wide range of players become available on frees at different times over the summer. remains to be seen whether the club will be able to go out and get the deals done. i'm nervous about next season but i guess thats inevitable and will be case until we actually start signing people

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southernblue added 12:30 - May 15 It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who moan in the comments section of the transfer news speculation about transfer speculation! If you're not interested in any speculation don't read the f---ing article, The headline is usually the give away!!!
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mightytown added 12:35 - May 15 imagine if leeds sign norris and leadbitter and get promoted !!! what a ghastly thought !!!
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afrodids added 12:44 - May 15 Off to Leeds it is then. I hear leadbitter is on a free! Lol
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mightytown added 12:56 - May 15 IF ONLY , , , playing 433; edwards, mcauley, bruce, creswell, leadbitter, norris, trotter, walters, rhodes, wickham. squad: JET, martin, hyam, drury, carson, garvan/bullard, eastman, delaney, smith, scotland. literally couldn't think of a decent keeper we've had recently (permenantly)
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weddings added 13:10 - May 15 How can we sign anybody when jewell is laying on a beach somewhere......
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fussysnake added 13:14 - May 15 would like him at PR and remain optimistic but I do have my doubts unfortunatly.
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Surco72 added 13:15 - May 15 It makes me laugh that Jewell gets constantly criticised by many for not targeting the right players or only going after poor targets ,yet when Warnock tries to sign the same players they are suddenly great players and the club is crap for not signing them !!!
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RegencyBlue added 13:30 - May 15 If we get him we get him, if we don't we don't! Not sure I can put up with being linked with every player in the football league over the next three months!!
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Keaneish added 13:41 - May 15 BORING!! Get Caddis instead!
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