Everton are considering a summer move for Town striker Jon Walters, according to one of this morning's tabloids. The Blues themselves are again being mentioned in connection with some of Roy Keane's former players at Sunderland.
Walters was linked with a host of clubs last summer including Stoke, although the Blues received no actual bids, but told TWTD in an interview for the fanzine recently that he wasn't anticipating a repeat of that speculation during this close season: "It's nice to have it because you know you're doing well, but what with being injured and not playing as much I don't expect the same this year. You never know, but I'm not expecting anything.â€Â
In October the former Chester man, who missed the end of the season with an ankle injury, signed a new contract with the Blues aimed at keeping him at Portman Road until 2012.
Elsewhere, Sunderland midfielder Dean Whitehead and striker David Healy are again said to be on Roy Keane's list of players he wants to sign from former club Sunderland.
Keane signed Healy, who was linked with Town regularly during Jim Magilton's time as boss, from Leeds last summer for £1.2 million, while Whitehead, who was already at the Stadium of Light when the current Blues manager took over in 2006, was the Irishman's captain at Sunderland.
One of this morning's papers says Town owner Marcus Evans will ‘only' be handing Keane £10 million to spend while the Blues are in the Championship. If true, this is unlikely to upset the Blues boss too much given that he said recently that it took him significantly less to get Sunderland into the Premier League: "I didn't spend that much at Sunderland in terms of the Championship, around £4.5 million to £5 million.
"I spent a bit more when we got promoted, but we needed that quality in the Premiership.
"I think this summer the message is that we aren't going to be throwing money around, we're going to try and wheel and deal like everybody else to get quality into the football club.
"If I can add one or two new faces to the group, maybe three or four, perhaps five or six, we'll wait and see, we'd like to see ourselves in the mix next season.â€Â