Swansea City boss Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that his club has approached Town regarding the loan signing of striker Jason Scotland. The 31-year-old is keen to play first team football and the Blues have told him that they wouldn’t stand in his way if his former club wanted him to return.
Despite his chairman Huw Jenkins saying there had been no contact between the clubs yesterday, Rodgers says talks have begun regarding the loan switch: "I have had a conversation with Paul Jewell and our chairman has had a chat with their chief executive Simon Clegg.
"There is a deal there to be done and we have put a proposal to them. We are now waiting to hear back from them to see what they think.
"We hope we can come to an agreement because Jason is a player who has proved himself capable of scoring goals at this level and for this club."
The Swans' proposal will probably see them pay a proportion of Scotland's wages during a spell back in South Wales which is likely to last until early May - but not covering the play-offs - with moves at this stage of the season limited to 93 days.
The striker agreed a two-year deal with the Blues when he signed for £750,000 from Premier League Wigan last summer. He has made 22 starts and seven sub appearances for Town, scoring seven goals, all at Portman Road.
Scotland, who is yet to make a start under Paul Jewell’s management, enjoyed a hugely successful spell with the Swans between 2007 and 2009, scoring 53 goals in 91 starts and 14 sub appearances.
Yesterday, the Trinidad and Tobago international said he would love to return to the Liberty Stadium if the clubs could agree a deal.
Town’s willingness to allow the Trinidadian to leave would suggest that manager Paul Jewell has a striking target in mind, having narrowly failed to land Swindon’s Charlie Austin during the transfer window, the 21-year-old eventually joining Burnley.
Aside from Austin, the only other striker mentioned in connection with Town since Jewell took over as manager was Peterborough’s Craig Mackail-Smith, who the new Blues boss watched in action shortly after taking the job at Portman Road.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United have confirmed the signing of former Town and Swansea striker Shefki Kuqi until the end of the season. The Finnish international is a free agent and available outside the transfer window having left the Swans during January.
Ex-Town left-back Neil Thompson has joined Gary Megson's new backroom staff at Sheffield Wednesday as a coach. Thompson was until recently working at Leeds as their academy manager.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was at Chesterfield's B2net Stadium on Tuesday night, reportedly to watch Town striker Connor Wickham and Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha in action for England's U19s as they lost 1-0 to Germany in a friendly.