Town are hoping to complete the signing of Brentford midfielder Jonathan Douglas before the weekend. The 33-year-old has another year left on his Bees contract but has been made available and we understand he will join the Blues on a free transfer.

With the clubs believed to have agreed terms on the deal, Douglas is expected at Portman Road today for talks and a medical with the Blues hoping that the move will be finalised prior to Saturday’s opening game of the Championship season, coincidentally against the Bees at Griffin Park.

Monaghan-born Douglas moved to England in 2000 when he joined Blackburn Rovers. While at Ewood Park he spent time on loan at Chesterfield, Blackpool and Gillingham before moving on to Leeds in 2005.

After four years at Elland Road, the 6ft tall holding midfielder moved to Swindon before he joined Brentford in 2011.

Douglas, who has been capped eight times by the Republic of Ireland, signed a new contract with the Bees in February but is not in new manager Marinus Dijkhuizen's plans and last month he was told he could move on.

"He is not part of the squad and is training separately. There is no future for him," Dijkhuizen told BBC London.

"We decided it is better for him to move on - for his future and for the future of Brentford."

Last season Douglas made 46 starts and scored eight goals as the Bees finished fifth in the Championship, one place above Town.

Last week, the Blues missed out on signing another Brentford player, Northern Irish winger Stuart Dallas, who is set to join Leeds United in a £1.25 million deal.

Elsewhere, ex-Blues striker Connor Wickham has completed his £9 million move from Sunderland to Crystal Palace. The fee is reportedly an initial £6 million potentially rising to the higher figure after top-up clauses.

If the fee is as reported 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

jas0999 added 17:32 - Aug 3 Good news. Certainly considerably better than Tabb and most of the players we released. Will cost a few quid in wages I suspect. Has a goal in him and much needed experience. Good signing and alters my earlier comments that midfield no stronger than last season. However, there should be some money left over, so I'm desperately hoping we address the defensive numbers and add someone before Saturday. A proper right back would be welcome. I'd love to see a new keeper too, but even I'm not expecting that to happen!!

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RaymondovicBlue added 17:43 - Aug 3 Douglas and Skuse in the middle will leave four more attacking players ... either midfielders/wingers or strikers. I said it all last season that I worried about having "game changing" quality on the bench - this year it might well be a choice from Bishop, Fraser, Pitman, Sears/McGoldrick Maitland, Connolly, McDonald ... shall I go on?) all champing at the bit instead of Tabb and Ando or tabb, or Ando or chapman, or tabb or tabb or tabb

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SamWhiteUK added 17:55 - Aug 3 AndrewPC, There is a big, BIG difference between being critical, and posts like BlueTich's. If you can't see it, well....
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HARRY10 added 18:00 - Aug 3 We suposedly picked around £8m, or so for Mings and here we are still patching up the squad with aged freebies. We ran out of steam last winter and just scrapped into the playoffs having been 2nd at one point. In this case it is not the player himself but what it signals. Another season of make do and mend with threadbare material. It won't be so easy this time either. There is no excuse, the money is there but the intent is not. Something that has pretty much been the watchword of the past few seasons. Any wonder we are the leagues longest serving club by a fair few years - and look set to remain so for the foreseeable future.

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AndrewPC added 18:19 - Aug 3 SamWhiteUk No I cannot "see it". The comments from this person do not particularly interest me. But that is irrelevant. I am trying to protect the principle that this site is in favour of all opinions. Free speech and not censorship. The best way for weak or prejudiced views to be dealt with is by simply tolerating but ignoring them; not asking that they be banned. Just my honest opinion Sam

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parhamblue added 19:03 - Aug 3 Ticks a lot of boxes, but not the creative midfielder pulling the strings, inspiring confidence that it's a football and not a bomb. He'll give us yet more energy, because with the style of play you can't get enough of that, he MAY score frequently but look at his overall record, not just last season. Not sure the Club are of the mentality or state of development to make a marquee signing with some of the Mings millions, and I'm not sure that's what Ian Milne promised if you go back and read what he said.

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coolcat added 13:31 - Aug 4 From the information I've read about him sounds like a really good signing. We've got a pretty strong squad now with the latest additions of Coke, Toure, Fraser and Pittman, giving MM more options. Agree with MarcusEvansReborn , think Chambers is more than good enough at RB. We'd notice soon enough if he wasn't there.
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coolcat added 13:34 - Aug 4 ....forgot to mention Knudsen who looks really good at left back, as well.
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