Town manager Paul Jewell says the season-long loan signing of David Stockdale doesn’t mean Márton Fülöp’s time at Portman Road is set to come to an end. The Blues boss believes the additional competition for the keeper’s jersey is healthy and is something he wants to replicate throughout the squad.
Jewell says he is not actively looking to move Fülöp on: "Not unless something comes up. David hasn’t been brought here because Márton going. We want competition. You can’t just have one or two people for every position. What we’re after is competition for places and he’ll bring stiff competition.”
Fülöp, who signed from Sunderland for £750,000 last August, has only a year remaining on his Town contract — in common with a number of other players - and the Blues boss says nothing should be read into talks about new terms for the Hungarian not yet having got under way.
Earlier in the summer, Bursaspor showed interest in the 28-year-old but the Turkish side ultimately signed Scott Carson from West Brom.
Jewell admits that the 24-hour recall clause included in Stockdale’s deal is a gamble but believes it is one worth taking: "It’s a bit of a risk we’re taking but we feel it’s about competition places and he’s a quality goalkeeper.”
Tuesday’s abandoned game at Colchester was a match of few chances but Stockdale showed why he was called into England squads last season with a superb second-half save from Anthony Wordsworth.
The Town manager was pleased with that stop and the former York and Darlington man’s overall performance: "It was a terrific save and his distribution was good.
"He gives us competition for Márton and Arran. We’d like that competition throughout the team and we’re still trying to improve the squad.”