Town boss Roy Keane says West Brom striker Ishmael Miller will have plenty of Championship clubs interested in taking him on loan and feels that the Blues may not be best placed to land him. Yesterday, Town, Leicester, Nottingham Forest and Swansea were all reported to be chasing the former Manchester City man.
Keane, who is looking for cover up front with Connor Wickham out for two weeks with an ankle injury, says the 23-year-old will be able to pick and choose where he goes: "I would say Ishmael Miller will have plenty of options and we’d always hope to think that we’re in the market, whether we’re speaking to clubs or agents. If you think we’re the only club in for a player like Ishmael Miller then [you’d be wrong].”
The Blues boss says sometimes it’s a matter of geography where players decide to move, particularly when it comes to short-term spells: "We are going find it hard to attract a player down to Ipswich.
"We found this last year, certain players in certain areas want to stay in that area, particularly if it’s only a loan deal, I can understand that 100%.
"We had a situation last year with a left-back and he ended up going out on loan to a club down the road.”
Keane says Miller, who came on as a sub in West Brom’s 4-1 Carling Cup win at Leicester last night, may not even be available given his club’s progress in the competition: "The boy Miller’s a good player. I think West Brom won tonight, so they may want to suddenly keep hold of their attacking players, which you could understand because they’re having such a good season.”
Former Blues skipper and coach Tony Mowbray was Miller’s boss at West Brom and could be interested in taking him to his new club Middlesbrough.