Norwich City are reported to have joined the race to sign Liverpool centre-half Daniel Ayala, the defender the Blues are also understood to be targeting. Last night, Blues boss Paul Jewell revealed that Town have tabled an offer for an unnamed defender but said four clubs were interested, two from the Premier League.
Hull City had an offer of £850,000 accepted for the Spaniard over the weekend, but the deal appears to have stalled with discussions on personal terms still to begin, while the Canaries' fellow Premier League new boys Swansea have also been strongly linked with the El Saucejo-born player.
Tigers boss Nigel Pearson admits that with top flight clubs interested, the Tigers’ chances of landing their former loanee — and similarly Town's - are very much reduced: "We believe there are Premier League sides interested in him so we'll just have to see if we have a chance to move any further. That's all there is to say about it."
Blues manager Jewell has been desperate to add to his central defensive ranks all summer with the need even greater now with Ãvar Ingimarsson suffering a recurrence of his thigh problem: "We need a centre-half urgently and I’ve been trying to get two or three since the season finished but I think all the teams in the Championship are shopping in the same shops and it’s proving very difficult.
"Ingimarsson has the thigh strain that he had in pre-season. He trained fine [on Monday] but he reported it [on Tuesday] morning. He’s got a slight thigh strain and we’ll have to see how he is for the weekend.”
Damien Delaney is also on the casualty list at present having turned his ankle at Bristol City but is expected to be OK to face his former club Hull at Portman Road on Saturday.
If Jewell is unable to add to his squad and Ingimarsson remains on the sidelines, the right-footed Jack Ainsley could be in line for a first league start alongside Delaney having impressed his manager in last night’s 2-1 Carling Cup loss to Northampton.