TWTD understands that Town’s joint bid is for Portsmouth duo Jason Pearce and Joel Ward (left). Blues boss Paul Jewell revealed that he had made offers for three players, two at the same club, after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Blackpool.
Right-back or midfielder Ward, 22, came through the youth system at hometown club Pompey, spending the 2008/09 season out on loan at Bournemouth.
Standing 6ft 2in tall, Ward made his Portsmouth first team debut the following Premier League season and has now made 57 starts and 18 sub appearances for Pompey, scoring five goals. He signed a contract until June 2013 a year ago.
Hillingdon-born Pearce also began his career with Pompey’s youth set-up but after spells on loan at Bognor Regis Town and Woking joined Bournemouth on a permanent basis in August 2007.
The 6ft 1½in tall centre-half established himself as a key member of the Bournemouth side as they progressed from League Two strugglers to League One play-off semi-finalists. In January 2010 he was named the Cherries’ first team captain.
Last summer, after a failed bid from Peterborough and reported interest from the Blues amongst others, Pearce returned to Pompey for a fee of £300,000 rising to £600,000 after milestone clauses are met, signing a three-year deal. This season the 24-year-old has made 24 starts and has scored one goal.
Portsmouth are currently in the midst of yet another change of ownership with parent company Convers Sports Initiatives having gone into administration in November. Despite an already depleted squad, Pompey could be forced to sell members of their playing staff to raise funds.
Pearce The identity of the third player, a teenager, according to the quotes from Jewell released earlier today, remains a mystery. Players matching that profile linked in recent months include Preston striker Jamie Proctor, Southend midfielder Kane Ferdinand and Leyton Orient winger George Porter. Town are reported to be expecting a response from Portsmouth in the next 48 hours Photos: Action Images
What to read next:
Have you predicted the QPR score yet? Fifty seven per cent of TWTD members are predicting a Town win today, 28 per cent a draw and 15 per cent a home win. The most commonly predicted result is a 2-1 win to Town with Philogene the first scorer but what do you think?
Ebbsfleet United keeper Mark Cousins has announced his retirement as a player to join the Blues’ academy as a coach.
The Blues’ U21s returned to the top of Premier League 2 after beating Newcastle United 1-0 at Portman Road via a first-half Fin Barbrook goal, despite playing most of the second half with 10 men following Walker Shabazz-Edwards’s red card.
Ipswich Town Women’s goalkeeper Natalia Negri returned to the club after the international break as a newly capped U23 international with England and spoke about the experience.
Town winger Kasey McAteer has admitted that the start to the season has been tough, both on an individual level and as a team.
Memorabilia from former Town boss John Lyall’s career went under the hammer earlier this week.
Town’s high-flying U21s host Newcastle United at Portman Road this evening (KO 7pm), while the U18s are in action against West Ham United at Playford Road on Saturday morning (KO 11am).
Winger Kasey McAteer says the disparity in home form and away form has been discussed ahead of the Town’s trip to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
Boss Kieran McKenna hopes Town can emulate his promotion-winning team from two years ago by recording an important away victory at QPR on Saturday afternoon.
A new podcast from the Life's a Pitch TV team is now available.