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Foley Was Town Man at Levante - Ipswich Town News

Specialist skills coach Steve Foley was Town's man at Sunday's La Liga derby between Levante and Valencia. TWTD revealed over the weekend that Spanish newspapers were reporting the Blues' presence at the game, which away side Valencia won 5-1, with striker Riga the likely subject of their interest.

Foley has an apartment in the Spanish city and has made three trips to eye Valencia's training methods over the last year. The former Colchester and Norwich coach says he was assessing possible summer targets: "There are a few clubs struggling financially in Spain, and there might be good players available.

"It was a general search, although we have the departure of central defender Jason De Vos to address.

"The manager has to decide on his goalkeeping options, and every club would be given a boost by having a regular 20-goal a season striker on their books. The spine of any team is important to gaining success.”

Levante are in particular financial strife and have been unable to pay their players for several months. Most of the squad are expected to leave the already-relegated side over the summer. Valencia are also in a less than comfortable position, but Town are less likely to be in a position to move for their first teamers.

Foley says that as well as a central defender and goalkeeper, a striker is another Town summer priority: "We have three players who scored 12 and 13 goals each, which was great, but a 20-goal man wins you a few extra matches.”

Levante frontman Rahamat Mustapha, known in Spain as Riga, was linked with the Blues in January and played 83 minutes of yesterday's game.

Born in Accra, Ghana, 26-year-old Riga grew up in Holland and was with Vitesse Arnhem, RBC Roosendaal and Sparta Rotterdam before joining the La Liga table-proppers in 2005.

Prior to his switch to Spain, the Dutch press linked the former Holland U20 international with Town and a number of other Championship sides.

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