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Clegg: Same Targets Still in Mind - Ipswich Town News

Chief executive Simon Clegg says Town are still targeting the players who were in manager Roy Keane’s thoughts at the end of the season. The Blues are also continuing to look for destinations for the current squad members who are no longer in Keane's plans.

Clegg said: "The manager and myself still have the same four or five players in mind that we had at the end of last season.

"They have not gone off the radar. And we recognise that we need to improve when it comes to putting the ball into the net.

"The bottom line is that we had more efforts on goal than any other team in the Championship and the lowest conversion rate. This says all there is to say about our strikers last season."

Cardiff striker Michael Chopra is Roy Keane's first choice to end the club's goalscoring problems with a bid understood to be in the region of £3.5 million having been tabled for the ex-Sunderland man.

Peterborough's George Boyd and Tottenham youngster Andros Townsend are players on Keane's wish-list for the left midfield role, while out of contract Crystal Palace skipper Shaun Derry has been targeted for central midfield, but appears likely to join QPR.

Southampton midfielder Simon Gillett, also out of contract, is another player in Keane's thoughts, probably as a potential replacement for departed loanee Jack Colback, along with Hungarian keeper Marton Fulop from the Blues' boss's old club Sunderland.

Much-sought-after former loanee Daryl Murphy is also amongst the targets with Glasgow Rangers the latest side to be linked with 27-year-old frontman, while Celtic, Reading and Burnley have all previously been mentioned in connection with the Irish international striker.

Clegg says Town owner and chairman Marcus Evans wants some of the players who are surplus to requirements to leave before new additions can come in: "The owner is putting me under pressure to get players out before we can bring players in and although it is all quiet at the moment, once clubs are back in action again players will start moving and there will be a snowball effect. I’m confident I can do as the owner wants.”

The likes of Colin Healy, Alan Quinn, Kevin Lisbie, Owen Garvan, Jon Stead, Pablo Couñago and Alex Bruce are amongst those the Blues will probably be looking to offload, with Bruce’s loan club Leicester already expressing an interest in the Irish international, Stead perhaps returning to his loan side Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday having been eyeing Pablo Couñago. Lisbie is understood to be interesting Millwall, Charlton and Colchester, where he spent this season on loan and from whom he joined the Blues in 2008.

The chief executive has also confirmed that the Blues had agreed terms for Liam Trotter’s permanent move to Millwall when the midfielder joined them on loan, a deal which Clegg says is beyond what Town would have received in compensation for the 21-year-old. A sell-on clause was also included in the deal for the Ipswich-born player, who agreed a two-year contract with the Lions earlier in the week.

Elsewhere, ex-Town midfielder or full-back Gavin Johnson has hung up his boots at the age of 39. Johnson has most recently been playing football with his local side Bury Town.

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