Blues boss Paul Jewell has revealed that Damien Delaney’s agent was at Portman Road earlier in the week for talks with chief executive Simon Clegg regarding the Irish international defender’s new contract. There appears to have been no significant progress with any of the senior players who have been offered new deals, although the Town manager is hopeful more will be known next week.
Jewell said: "Damien Delaney’s agent met with the chief executive on Wednesday and a decision is imminent. We have to start putting time limits on it now and by this time next week, I promise you, we will know."
The Blues manager says he has spoken to other players regarding their contract offers and is waiting to hear back from senior squad men Gareth McAuley, Brian Murphy and Colin Healy in addition to Delaney, while not all of the first and second-year pros have yet held talks regarding their futures.
Jewell has still not been able to get hold of David Norris’s agent but believes that his skipper very much wants to remain a Blue: "If you can find David Norris’s agent let me know! I spoke to Chuck this week and he’s keen to stay. I know he’s got good offers from elsewhere, that’s what his agent has told me and we’re trying to get somewhere close to that.”
Keeper Arran Lee-Barrett has yet to be offered a deal and Jewell has plans to speak to the one-time Town schoolboy: "I haven’t spoken to him yet. He’s been in the first team in the last two games but hasn’t had a lot to do, to be fair to him.
"I’ll be speaking to him and a few of the rest of them in the next couple of weeks. We’ll have to make decisions on those players and then make some of them offers and then it’s up to them to accept or not.”