Town boss Roy Keane says the Blues are considering a loan offer for one of their senior players. The club are weighing up whether to allow the unnamed player to leave with Keane admitting that members of his squad could be sacrificed in order to make new additions during January.

The Blues manager says offers have been received and that it’s a potential short-term switch which is receiving most attention: “More the loan offer we have at the moment for one of our senior players.

“We might have to do that, it depends. If I’m after a certain signing where the player we’re after is only a loan deal, we have to balance the books with the wages. I think I said that last summer as well, which is why we missed out on one or two senior players.”

The Blues boss has outlined his targets and says he has two or three specific names he wants to join the club, ideally on a permanent basis: “We certainly need another striker into the club, Connor Wickham’s had a lot of injuries and another of our strikers, Rory Fallon, is only on loan and that expires in a few weeks.

“With Gianni getting called back, we’ve had players doing a job for us at right-back, whether it was Troy Brown or Jaime Peters, but these boys aren’t right-backs.

“We probably need someone in the middle of the park, if Jake Livermore is called back by Tottenham. Shane O’Connor now is ruled out for definitely six, maybe seven weeks. We’ll lose Jack in the middle of the park because he’ll have to do a job for us on the left, or perhaps Carlos can come across from the right.”

Keane says he has handed his wish-list to owner Marcus Evans and chief executive Simon Clegg: “You can’t do too much officially until January. You can make the odd phone call.

“I’m the manager of the football club and I’ll give the targets to the chief executive and the owner, and I have to focus on trying to win football matches, which I’ve probably not done well enough.”

The Blues boss says he will learn what funds he has to spend in order to augment his depleted squad in the days and weeks to come, but accepts that Marcus Evans has provided both himself and Jim Magilton with significant cash: “To be fair to the owner he’ll probably say he’s backed all the managers here, he keeps the club going. Don’t think for one minute it’s not costing the owner money.

“I appreciate it’s easy to spend other people’s money, but we also have assets — do we have to sell one or two of our players? I don’t know. Watch this space.”

One player who Keane doesn’t expect to be on his way, despite all the reports to the contrary, is Connor Wickham, although he admits that nothing is ever certain in football: “Not in January I wouldn’t have thought.”

Keane - whose terms with Town are up in June - also concedes that his contract position could be a factor when it comes to Evans and Clegg allocating him funds: “Why buy a player and commit to a half a million or a million pound deal and give a player a two or three-year contract when [the manager only has four months on his contract]? But that’s the industry we’re in, I think that goes on at every club.”

The Town boss has reiterated that he wants deals done as soon as possible, feeling that the club has been tardy on this front before, with the need for new players more urgent after the training ground injuries to Brian Murphy (ankle, three months) and Shane O’Connor (shoulder, six weeks).

Keane says that he and his staff will look at their work on the training ground to see whether there that may have contributed to the injury problems, but thinks that believes that more than anything the club has been unfortunate: “We’re certainly short of numbers. I’ve never known anything like it with the injuries. We’ll have to look at the training we’re doing, the intensity, but I think sometimes you can be unlucky.

“Murph just went over on his ankle, although Shane got nailed by one of the goalkeepers, which I certainly wasn’t too pleased about. I think that could have been avoided because Shane was doing really well for us. He’s popular amongst the group. If I was him I wouldn’t have been happy with the tackle.”

Photo: Action Images

tractorboy2434 added 15:50 - Dec 31 Surprised that anyone wants any of our shower, even on loan, but as far as I am concerned they all have their price, would'nt be too fussed about letting any of them go, can hardly say that any have achieved very much.
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Ipswich24 added 16:06 - Dec 31 Who is it then? Civeli?
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bontcho added 16:07 - Dec 31 Priskin is my guess. One of the few "senior" players we own who'd other teams would be interested in!
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arc added 16:07 - Dec 31 Priskin?
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brittaniaman added 16:07 - Dec 31 What the hell has happened to Luca Civelle//????, approaching 2yrs now and still no sign of him playing, I have seen players with injury like he had come back and play much sooner than him, so come on let us see some action !!! or is he the one going out on loan ?????????? He has got to earn his wages sometime,he has cost us a fortune. a Le Penn similarity ???????

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TractorMatt added 16:18 - Dec 31 Priskin going out on loan to Swansea is my guess.
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RYITFC added 16:33 - Dec 31 No this isn't good hold onto our own players, We don't want loan players, That's what will happen, Sounds like it's Priskin by the rumours, He's played ok this season, Just needs a few more goals. Im getting fed up with this whole saga of loaning players out and then bringing in players on loan who are worse than the ones we have already got, It simply ain't good enuf.
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clive_baker added 16:40 - Dec 31 It's a bit of a sorry state of affairs at Portman Road at the moment! My biggest concern is MacAuley and Norris - we need to get them both signed up asap. I heard a rumour QPR want MacAuley on a free at the end of the season and no doubt they will be offering more money than we can (and prob premier league football). The likes of Fulup, Macauley, Smith, Peters, Delaney, Leadbitter, Norris, Hyam, Scotland, Priskin and Wickham should be the core of this team and the core of what should be a good team! They are all ours and all (barring MacAuley) fit i think so why the big concern to get more players in? When you consider that XI with the addition of Brown, sub keeper, Civelli, Murray, Lambe, Eastman, O'connor, Kennedy, Colback, Quinn etc we are ok without these useless loanees. Get Norris and Gareth signed up, send O'Dea and Livermore back and give our OWN youth a shot not these loanees that are no better than O'Connor, Hyam, Lambe and potetially Eastman. If its not working he just looks for more personnel hoping that if he throws enough mud at the wall some will stick. How about getting the best out of what you have got first.

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Radlett_blue added 16:46 - Dec 31 Roy - (1) why did we start the season without a recognised right back, after you dumped D.Wright? (2) If you think Colback is more effective as a left midfielder than Townsend, please find a different profession. (3) you seem to think we need more central midfielders - words fail me!
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Dale added 16:50 - Dec 31 Is it Colin Healy?
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Wickets added 17:00 - Dec 31 So you often say Roy i want my players putting the effort in in matches and on the training ground, then Fulop accidentialy nails Shane in training and you slag him off!!! nice.
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Mark added 17:03 - Dec 31 Perhaps the books would be easier to balance if we didn't keep bringing in players from the Premier League?! We should look to decent up and coming players from the Championship and lower leagues. "we've had players doing a job for us at right-back, whether it was Troy Brown or Jaime Peters, but these boys aren't right-backs." So why did Keane not sign a right-back in the summer and why did he say in November that he was not even looking for one?! "We probably need someone in the middle of the park, if Jake Livermore is called back by Tottenham" Keane is obsessed with central midfielders. We have: Colback, Healy, Hourihane, Leadbitter, Norris, Quinn, Peters can play there, and there are young lads as cover. We have no right-back at all however!!

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Garv added 17:08 - Dec 31 Wenger's said he's looking to loan out vela.....I moan about loans but i wouldnt mind that! Get on it Curbs.
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RetroBlue added 17:14 - Dec 31 It HAS to be Tamas ( we havent got anyone else that is good enough , that is actual "our" player). He will go to Swansea..... and never return! A class player that RK couldnt get the best out of . BYE BYE ROY !!
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AYACCA added 17:19 - Dec 31 Lets be honest, Keane hasn't got a clue. No person with half a footballing brain would disagree. I can't believe he still has a job after 18 months of terrible decision making. SHOCKING! at least i didn't renew my season ticket. phew.
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jas0999 added 17:25 - Dec 31 Priskin I would have thought.
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Mark added 17:29 - Dec 31 Priskin would be my guess too. Although not scoring many goals, he was improving I thought and showed some attacking skill at least, which is why he won the Man of the Match award for several matches running on this site. Why did Keane then drop him right out of the side? More bizarre management. How on earth is Keane still here going into 2011?!
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tractorintheloft added 17:45 - Dec 31 Hopefully it's Healy not Priskin. Has anyone else noticed that fans on this site voted Priskin MOM 8 games running before Roy dropped him. "You don't know what you're doing". I think the Millwall fans had RK sussed when they came to Town earlier this season. FORK!
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Millsey added 17:53 - Dec 31 Is this chap Priskin the same guy who most of you moaners booed earlier this season or some world beater who's banging in the goals for us????
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tractorintheloft added 18:02 - Dec 31 Millsey - given his slow start I think the fans have been really behind him and he turned his form around. Unfortunately Roy has decided that he will give up another 1.7m of ME dosh by dumping him on the bench and then out of the club. How's our 2m investment in Lee Martin coming on at Charlton? FORK.
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suffolk_punch added 18:07 - Dec 31 its connor, going to arsenal
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tractorboy2434 added 18:14 - Dec 31 'weighing up their options' what options, we have'nt got any other than to play the dross we already have.
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tractorboy2434 added 18:50 - Dec 31 He says he is the manager of our football club, no sh*t sherlock, god we are so lucky, he could have bloody fooled me.
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lunatic38 added 18:50 - Dec 31 i feel like a song "and now, we have come to the end, its the final countdown" or "You dont know what your doing,You dont know what your doing!!" i name thee KING KEANO the KUNT!
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tractorboy2434 added 18:54 - Dec 31 Yeah, let one of our senior players out so you can sign Roy Carroll on loan, it just had to be another Irishman, did'nt it, and one about ready for his bus pass this time, you really are a clueless imbecile, for god's sake sake just clear off PLEASE
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