Town are close to signing striker Frank Nouble from Wolves. The 21-year-old, who is set to sign a contract until the summer of 2014, has been at Portman Road for a medical this morning, a fee having been agreed.

The 6ft 3in tall Londoner began his career with Chelsea’s youth set-up before joining West Ham in 2009.

While with the Hammers, he spent spells on loan at West Brom, Swindon, Swansea, Barnsley, Charlton, Gillingham and Barnsley again.

England U17 and U19 international - who also qualifies for the Ivory Coast via his parents - made only six starts and 13 sub appearances while at Upton Park, scoring just the one senior goal.

In the summer he moved on a free transfer to Wolves, signing a two-year deal, but has made only two sub appearances in the Championship, in addition to one start, two games from the bench and one goal in the Capital One Cup.

Nouble would appear to be a direct replacement for former loanee Tyrone Barnett, whose spell from Peterborough was cut short by a knee injury, providing competition for Daryl Murphy.

Manager Mick McCarthy added two more strikers - Aaron Mclean and David McGoldrick - to his squad last week and on Saturday confirmed that he was still chasing ex-loanee DJ Campbell, who went back to QPR last week.

The Blues would now appear to have a surfeit of frontmen with Nathan Ellington having returned to the club yesterday after his loan from Scunthorpe and Murphy, Michael Chopra, Jason Scotland, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas - who McCarthy views as primarily a striker - Ronan Murray and the injured Paul Taylor already at Portman Road.

Photo: Action Images

roysboys added 13:35 - Jan 8 he hasn't scored many goals anywhere he has been previously so not sure about this one.
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brian_a_mul added 13:39 - Jan 8 @Muccletonjoe well mcGoldrick is currently top goalscorer in League 1, we have signed him on loan with a view to a permanent deal in the summer if he does the business. Therefore he is a proven goalscorer & one of the best below the championship. The fact is our attack has been weak for the past number of years, due to lack of quality support. The majority of teams that win promotion generally score the most goals and have strikers ready to keep the goals flowing when needed. In the past our shy forward line has put our midfield and defense under pressure. A good attack keeps the opposition on their toes and helps pin opposition players in their defensive zones relieving pressure on midfield and attack. Less pressure = less silly mistakes.

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kozmik added 13:41 - Jan 8 stop gap until Jack Marriott is ready!
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TrumptonBlue added 13:48 - Jan 8 2012/13 New Signings Play-Off: Team A: Loach; Hewitt, Chambers, Higginbotham, Youga; Kourouma, Luongo, Murphy; Taylor, Campbell, Barnett. Team B: Henderson; Orr, Mohsni, Kisnorbo, Mings; Wellens, Reo-Coker, N'Daw; McGoldrick, Mclean, Nouble. Both sides a bit attack-heavy. Could be lots of goals.
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Pessimistic added 13:51 - Jan 8 I used to blame the elongated transfer negotiations that we suffered under P.J. down to Messrs Clegg and Evans but now I am not too sure. We only seem to hear anything these days when it is very much a done deal!
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carlisleaway added 14:08 - Jan 8 OK we have signed another striker, but surely the most important position to be filled is central midfield. For these strikers to score goals our midfield must be able to create the opportunities which have not been available during the past few games. But on the plus side it is good to see players being signed without the press being involved and getting us excited over yet another transfer that is just pie in the sky.

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buryblue77 added 14:38 - Jan 8 Trumpton, what are you on about? Youga is going, Kourouma has gone as has Luongo, Barnett, Moshni and Wellens.
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TrumptonBlue added 15:12 - Jan 8 Bury, I never said they were all still here. I just noticed that we'd signed 22 players since last summer (many of whom have since departed), and I thought it might be fun to see if you could make two vaguely plausible teams from them. Turns out it wasn't much fun after all.
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buryblue77 added 15:26 - Jan 8 Trumpton, fair enough I see what you're getting at now. Yes there's enough new signings there to make a couple of teams. I hope it doesn't all fall apart if Mick makes too many new signings in a short space of time, however we are in need of some quality, once we have that we need consistency as that's something we've been lacking over the years as your post effectively highlights.

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itfcbarmyarmy added 19:04 - Jan 8 I think this is conformation that Ellington and Scotland are moving on always been a fan of Jason but I think Ellington has never really been able to fit into towns style. Shame really both good players in their day. I can see them both dropping a league and becoming a regular starter for one of those clubs.
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