Boss Roy Keane says he could add another loan player to his squad in the next few days and will recall striker Kevin Lisbie from his spell at Colchester in January. Keane has been searching for two loan players in addition to keeper Asmir Begovic, who signed a three-month deal from Portsmouth yesterday.
The Blues boss says his search for outfield loanees is starting to come to fruition: "There are one or two areas where we’re trying [to bring in loan players].
"I had a conversation with a manager last night and I think we could be near a deal today for a player to come into the club over the next few days, but obviously not in time for tomorrow. There’s still a bit of wheeling and dealing to be done.”
Keane was unwilling to reveal the position of the potential signing, but a centre-half looks to be a priority, while an additional striker also appears to be in the Town management’s plans.
One frontman who will be back at Portman Road is Kevin Lisbie, who Keane says he will recall early from his season-long loan at Colchester United, invoking a clause in the deal which allows his return in January.
Lisbie, 31 tomorrow, was recently quoted saying that he would not be returning to Portman Road, but Keane says otherwise: "We’ve got a call-back in January and he’ll be coming back in January because we’ve had plenty of enquiries for him.
"He had a chance to go on loan, fancied it and that was it, but he’ll be back here in January, whether he likes it or not.”
Town have received interest from clubs who want to sign Lisbie on a permanent basis, potential moves which will be put to the Londoner on his return: "Ultimately it comes down to the player, it doesn’t matter what we might think. If the player wants to go, he goes, if he doesn’t, he doesn’t.”
Keane says there has been some interest in taking other members of his squad on loan, but nothing solid: "We’ve had one or two phonecalls, but plenty of phonecalls go on between managers and from scouts and to my staff, but there’s nothing likely to happen over the next few days.
"If I manage to get one or two players that I’m after, then that would open the door for one or two others [to go out on loan].”