Town manager Roy Keane admits that wages will be the biggest stumbling block if he tries to sign loan strike pair David Healy and Daryl Murphy from Sunderland on a permanent basis in the summer. Yesterday, Black Cats boss Steve Bruce said he would be willing to talk to the Blues about the duo moving to Portman Road on a full-time basis.
Keane said: "When you’ve got players on loan from the Premiership the issue is always their wages. I think the owner has been very good in terms of transfer fees, but wages are always going to be a problem.
"We’ve seen what’s happened to other clubs over the last few months and we’ve got to be very careful and I understand and respect the owner’s point of view on that 100%.
"We have to be very careful, as much as we’d like to sign these type of players, we have to be realistic.”
The Blues boss says the situation regarding wages was the same with Giovani Dos Santos last summer: "I thought Gio from Spurs last year was outstanding, but we couldn’t get him.
"I would have loved to have kept him, he was a top player, he was probably the man of the match in the two games when I was here last season, but there are pluses and minuses when you have loan players.”
Keane says no discussions have yet taken place about making Murphy and Healy permanent additions to his squad: "We won’t look at that until the end of the season. We’ve got to try and win some football matches and get away from the bottom of the table.
"And as much as we might keen on them we have to be respectful that they’re under contract to other clubs. Sometimes players come on here on loan and it’s a case of them just getting their match sharpness, they mightn’t see their long-term futures here.
"There’s plenty of work to be done on these potential deals. It’s not even crossed my mind, I’m just glad these players are here and are giving 100% for the football club.”
But overall, the duo have impressed their manager during their time at Portman Road: "Murph’s done very well. He’s got five goals in eight matches and is one behind our leading goalscorer, which tells you where our problems have been all season - we’ve not scored enough goals.
"We’re pleased with Murph and David Healy’s getting sharper. We’re pleased with the boys and I think it’s created a bit of sharpness in Pablo and Connor Wickham. There have been pluses from these lads coming in.
"But we’ve other strikers out on loan, Steady, Priskin, so it should be an interesting summer, I think.”