Town are close to completing the signing of Danish international left-back Jonas Knudsen, who is currently with Superliga club Esbjerg fB, his hometown side.

TWTD understands that Knudsen, 22, is one of three targets the Blues are currently close to adding to their squad, manager Mick McCarthy having revealed that Town were making progress on several fronts earlier today.

We understand that members of the Town management have travelled to Denmark to watch Knudsen in action on a number of occasions in the last few weeks and were evidently impressed.

Despite his youth, 6ft 1in tall Knudsen has already made 150 senior domestic starts and six sub appearances, scoring 16 goals and has won two full Danish caps. He recently played at the European U21 Championships in the Czech Republic and has also won caps at U18, U19 and U20 levels.

TWTD understands that the clubs are close to completing the deal and the move could be confirmed before the weekend, while Danish newspaper Ekstrabladet is also reporting that a fee is agreed and the details of the switch aren't far off being finalised.

Trialist Giles Coke has impressed since joining the club at the end of last week and may well have done enough to be offered a contract.

Blues boss McCarthy is also currently assessing whether to offer terms to Guinean international Larsen Touré and midfielder Darren Ambrose.

Meanwhile, Town's U18s lost 5-0 to Manchester United in their opening game at a pre-season tournament at Tottenham's training ground. The hosts beat Liverpool 5-2 in tonight's other match.

Elsewhere, Sunderland are reported to have accepted an offer from Crystal Palace for ex-Blues striker Connor Wickham. The fee is said to be an initial £6 million rising to £9.5 million after top-up clauses.

If those figures are correct Town won't immediately receive anything from the sell-on clause - an undisclosed percentage of any profit - included in the 2011 deal which saw the 22-year-old join the Black Cats.

Wickham moved for an initial £8.1 million with a number of appearance milestones understood to have been triggered during his time on Wearside.

Photo: Action Images

parhamblue added 07:35 - Jul 31 Very good especially if Parr plays RB most of the season. Otherwise, he fills the gap left by Mings sale, and it's taken most of the summer to do that. Hopefully it's not too early to celebrate none of the other 'assets' leaving. Let's see who else comes in. Unlike some, I'm not against Coke because with Hyam's injury we desperately need cover there.
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Pilgrimblue added 07:37 - Jul 31 Sounds perfect. Neither Parr nor Tabb would be good enough so pleased MM has got sorted. Coke looks good addition too so hope MM can get team in shape for opening game
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GTRKing added 07:40 - Jul 31 Jonas Knudsen & Gilles Coke to sign before tomorrow so both can play in the friendly
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flashblue added 08:15 - Jul 31 I suspect the price will be between £1.5 and £2m
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Tractorog added 08:16 - Jul 31 On paper an excellent signing. Brings back memories of Ipswich with a European heart to our team... Albeit Dutch in those days.
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Tractorog added 08:19 - Jul 31 Oh an excuse to wear fluffy Viking helmets to matches.... What's not to like?
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itfcserbia added 08:24 - Jul 31 very happy with this, I've seen the kid play and left a very good impression... just one question - does this mean Parr on RB?
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Gilesy added 08:24 - Jul 31 I'm surprised his current club want to lego of him.
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WeWereZombies added 08:29 - Jul 31 So, it looks like MM is bringing home the bacon. Hoping for more of a Claus Thomsen than a Tomas Gaardsoe here, although with a better workrate than Claus. The goal that was posted above had a touch of the David Wright about it, though.
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Currie10 added 08:50 - Jul 31 I'm assuming Henshall was given the chance to be the backup winger t Niles/ Fraser before the Bury friendly and hasn't cconvinced Mick so I'm going to assume a winger may well be one of the options. Looks very much as though we'll be going 4-4-2 with actual wingers this season, at least to start with.
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dalinghooblue added 09:04 - Jul 31 According to his page on Wikipaedia he is already an Ipswich player and has been given squad number 3 (if you can believe wikipaedia)
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tractorboy23 added 09:05 - Jul 31 Good prospect, young & pacy! Would like 2 more to compete in central positions, a CB to keep smith on his toes
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