Middlesbrough have become the latest club to make an enquiry regarding Blues' striker Marcus Bent. Town boss Joe Royle has revealed the two other clubs showing an interest as Leeds and Leicester.

Royle said: "This could be a big day or a dead day. We have had a lot of interest in Marcus, primarily from Leicester, while Peter Reid called me on Sunday morning asking about him.

"Middlesbrough have asked about him and I imagine we will hear more during the morning."

Town are unlikely to get much in the way of a fee for Bent, however the removal of his wages - he's the club's second highest earner - would give Royle room to manoeuvre in the loan market. Bent's contract at Portman Road has another year to run after this season.

The Town boss said last week he had identified his loan targets, although he refused to give any details.

The interest from the three Premiership clubs depends to some extent on other deals. Leeds would be unlikely to move for him if they sign Cyril Chapuis from Marseille while Leicester are trying to sign Jason Roberts from West Brom.

The transfer deadline has been extended until 5pm today as August 31st was a Sunday, a day when many of the administrative processes involved in tranfers couldn't be carried out.

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