TWTD understands that Manchester United midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe is at Portman Road today and looks set to complete his loan move to the Blues this afternoon. Yesterday, we revealed that Town were the frontrunners for the 20-year-old, who will become Mick McCarthy’s 10th signing of the summer.
Tunnicliffe, who reports elsewhere say will sign until January, is likely to be involved in a strong Town squad in the final friendly of pre-season at Notts County on Saturday (KO 3pm).
Brighton were amongst a number of other Championship clubs who were also believed to be eyeing the England U16 and U17 international, who spent time on loan at Peterborough United during 2011/12 and at Barnsley last season.
Heywood-born Tunnicliffe plays in central midfield, an area where the Blues would still appear to require cover. Speaking on Tuesday, Mick McCarthy said he was looking to add only one more player to his squad ahead of the start of the season at Reading a week on Saturday.
Tunnicliffe has made two sub appearances in the Capital One Cup for the Red Devils, in addition to 15 senior starts and 18 games from the bench for his loan sides.
In April, Blues boss McCarthy confirmed that he would utilise the loan market to augment his squad.
Tunnicliffe played for United’s reserves in their 1-0 friendly victory over Club Brugge last week, a game which was watched by the Town manager.
Elsewhere, the Blues are reported to be the probable destination for ex-loanee Guirane N’Daw, however, that seems unlikely with Tunnicliffe, who plays a similar role, set to sign and with McCarthy having said he was after only after one more player and playing down his interest in the Sengalese international earlier in the week.