Boss Roy Keane concedes that it might not be easy to move on all the current players he sees as surplus to requirements. Keane has identified a number of squad members that he feels won’t be in his plans next season with four or five new signings already in his sights.
Keane said: "There are players that we have at the club that might have to move on, simple as that.
"Whether clubs come in for them is another issue, but whatever happens I’ve got four or five players that we need at the club next year. Whether I’ve seven or eight I’d like to move on or 15, that’s irrelevant, these four or five players are massively important to us if we want to take the club forward next year.”
Keane will meet with the club’s 11 out-of-contract players this week to tell them whether they are being kept on, with one of this morning’s newspapers reporting that keeper Richard Wright will be amongst those released, a move which wouldn't be a surprise with Brian Murphy establishing himself as Town's number one and the former England man likely to be on big wages.
The Blues boss will also be looking to find new clubs for some of those whose deals stretch beyond the summer. Kevin Lisbie, Jon Stead, Pablo Couñago, Alan Quinn, Lee Martin, Owen Garvan, Alex Bruce, Colin Healy and Tamás Priskin are all contracted until at least 2011 but are either currently out of the first team or on loan.
Keane says some of those that he would like to depart may decide to stay despite not being involved in the first team: "One or two might say ‘listen, I’ve got a year left, I’ve got two years and I’m going to sit tight’.
"We’re not here to force any player out of the football club, but we might have to say to them ‘we’ve had enquires, if you want to move on, we certainly won’t stand in your way because you mightn’t be part of the plans’.
"But, as I say, we’re not here to force anyone out of the football club, they’re under contract and we’ve got to be prepared to honour that.”
At least one new striker is clearly amongst Keane’s priorities with Jon Walters currently topping this season's scoring charts with just eight goals. But the Town manager says finances could prevent him from signing the really top level Championship frontmen: "We haven’t got anybody in the group that is showing that they can get 15, never mind 20.
"[Someone capable of scoring] 20 goals might be out of our reach in terms of the type of strikers we’re after, whether you’re looking at a player who isn’t in his first team in the Premiership or someone who is doing well in the Championship.
”If you look at the players who have done well in the Championship, the Chopras, I think Chopra was about £4 million. We have to be realistic and, obviously, the bigger the fee, the bigger the wages. There’s lots to go into it.
"We have to be careful who we target over the next few months. We have to be realistic who we think we can get, who we fancy coming to Ipswich, in terms of the fee and the wages. It’s going to be difficult, no doubt.”
Cardiff's Michael Chopra and Scunthorpe's Gary Hooper have already been linked with summer moves to the Blues.