Paul Jewell says he wants to keep midfielder Jimmy Bullard at Portman Road and that the loanee from Hull has told him that he wants to stay, but the Blues boss warns that it will be a very difficult deal for the Town to do, particularly with Premier League clubs also interested in the 32-year-old.
Speaking yesterday, Jewell said: "I spoke to Jimmy this morning. He wants to stay and I want him to stay.
"I spoke to [director of football operations] Adam Pearson at Hull but it’s a difficult deal to do. Everyone knows the contract that Jimmy’s on, but it’s a deal that we’d love to do and I know Jimmy would love to do it.
"I know there are a couple of Premier League clubs interested in him but we’re in there fighting. It all depends on Hull basically, the ball’s in Hull’s court.”
Bullard has two years left on his £45,000-a-week deal at the KC Stadium, which the Town manager says the Blues certainly wouldn’t be able to get close to matching: "I don’t think anyone expects that we can pay his wages. We’ve paid a fair chunk this season and we’d love to do the deal but not everything can be done.
"Hull obviously helped us with the deal [this season] but we paid a decent amount for Jimmy. He was a huge success with the fans and in the team.
"There’s not going to be a bottomless pit but if I want a player who is going to give us a better chance of getting up there, [owner Marcus Evans] will back me.”
Jewell says he was sorry that Gareth McAuley, who looks set for West Brom, and David Norris, who appears to be on his way to Portsmouth, although with one paper this morning linking him with QPR, turned down new two-year deals, but has started the search for their successors: "I’m disappointed to lose them, but things move on.
"We’ve got to learn lessons that we don’t want key players getting out of contract because you’re always susceptible to them getting offers from elsewhere.
"But we’ll endeavour to get replacements and maybe even better ones. They’re both good players, good professionals, but this is football and it’s always evolving.
"I can’t speak highly enough of them as people and players. I inherited a situation which wasn’t easy and we’ve got to try and learn from our mistakes.”