Town have included 26-year-old South African international centre-half Bongani Khumalo in their squad for tonight’s friendly at Crawley. The Spurs man, he is contracted until 2015, is set to be part of the Blues’ first half team with manager Mick McCarthy again fielding a different XI in each 45.

Khumalo played for Arcadia Shepherds, University of Pretoria and Supersport United in his home country before joining Tottenham in January 2011 for £1.7 million.

However, he failed to make a senior appearance for the North Londoners and has since been sent on loan to Preston, Reading and Greek side PAOK, where he spent last season.

The 6ft 2in tall defender has won 26 caps, scoring one goal, which came in South Africa’s 2-1 victory over France at the 2010 World Cup they hosted. He has captained his national side.

Fellow trialists Dean Gerken and Dan Seaborne are again in the Blues squad, having played at Shelbourne on Saturday. Crawley include ex-Blue Billy Clarke but Andy Drury is out with a knock.

First half: Gerken, Hammond, Mings, Khumalo, Smith, Skuse, Anderson, Hyam, Murphy, Chopra, Carson.

Second half: Loach, Hewitt, Chambers, Seaborne, Cresswell, Lawrence, Berkane, Wordsworth, Tabb, Nouble, McGoldrick. Subs: Timlin, October.

Photo: Action Images

taylor15 added 19:47 - Jul 10 anyone know why marriot isn't included again?
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jas0999 added 19:47 - Jul 10 Can't see him being on trial if only for a loan deal ... must be a permanent one?
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devonboy88 added 19:50 - Jul 10 Must be a lone deal if hes contracted till 2015
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Jimmys_Law added 20:00 - Jul 10 Murphy just scored his third goal of preseason to put Town in the lead at Crawley. Town 1-0 Crawley.
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Liastro added 20:02 - Jul 10 There's no reason to say that Spurs won't cancel his contract, so that the deal would be permanent.
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suffolkpunchdrunk added 20:09 - Jul 10 If Khumalo joins us I want first dibs on the vuvuzela franchise at Portman Road!
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Ipswichbusiness added 20:09 - Jul 10 In more than two years he has failed to make an appearance for Spurs, but has had a succession of loan deals with various clubs none of which wanted to make the arrangement permanent. That isn't a very promising start.
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h32 added 20:21 - Jul 10 Ipswichbusiness - exactly - not terribly exciting news.
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Stato added 20:32 - Jul 10 He has looked very good indeed in first half
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SonOfSpock added 20:35 - Jul 10 Can't thing of a catchy song for him either..
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Stato added 20:39 - Jul 10 Skuse our best player imo. mings has impressed. Anderson took his goal well. Hyam seems a bit out of sorts. I reckon our 2nd half team looks stronger than first half
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Steelmonkey added 21:22 - Jul 10 If Spurs hve made their mind up that he won't figure in their plans and having paid 1.7 million, putting him out on loan does give them the option of at least trying to recoupi some of the fee thay paid for him. Depending what their valuation is for him it might well have put him out of reach to these clubs. I can't see that Preston's coffers are overflowing with money, or Reading at the time he was with them, and we all know the state that Greece is in. Now another season later, having him tied to them till 2015 it might well be that they are looking to someone to take him off their hands. Like JET if we have paid his contract up and Bristol must be paying him wages moving to another club with that sort of cushion may tempt him to move on if he can get that sort of deal fom Tottenham.

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syntaxerror added 00:08 - Jul 11 If he wasnt good enough for Spurs, why sjould he be good enough for us
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kizipswich added 05:40 - Jul 11 If it is a permanent signing i think it's a good one. Adds depth to the squad and someone who has captained their country and played in a world cup adds good experience to the back line.
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kizipswich added 05:42 - Jul 11 Ah, just had a look at a different thread and Mick said it wouldn't be a permanent deal. Not so sure about the loan but if he looks decent then the depth would be good for the promotion push!
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