Former Town striker Caolan Lavery has agreed to join League Two Bradford City. TWTD was first to reveal that the Canadian-born Northern Ireland U21 international was in talks with the Bantams a month ago.
The former academy striker recently turned down a six-month professional deal with the Blues and, in addition to his talks with Bradford, spent time on trial with Leicester City and more recently Sunderland.
Lavery, whose two-year academy scholarship was extended until his 19th birthday in October after he suffered a serious knee injury last season, was understood to have been unhappy with the wages on offer at Portman Road, which were believed to be below those of a number of his contemporaries.
As well as Sunderland, Leicester and Bradford, Aston Villa monitored his progress in the early part of the season, while Town were looking to send him out on loan to Rochdale prior to his decision to move on. Links with Tottenham were dismissed last season.
Lavery netted five goals in seven FA Premier Academy League games for Town’s U18s during the early stages of this campaign, plus a further four for the reserves.
Having offered the contract, Town are entitled to compensation from Bradford.