TWTD understands that Town are keen to bring former loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe back to Portman Road. The 21-year-old spent the first half of the season on loan with the Blues from Manchester United but was recalled close to the end of the January transfer window and sold to Fulham.
Since then, the midfielder has started the last two Cottagers’ games, a 2-2 draw with Manchester United and a 3-2 home defeat to Liverpool, but the manager who brought him to Craven Cottage, his former Old Trafford mentor René Meulensteen, has been sacked.
New boss Felix Magath may be less inclined to field the inexperienced Tunnicliffe as he tried to keep the bottom-of-the-table Londoners in the Premier League and at a press conference yesterday suggested his squad was too big: "If we have too many players, then we have too many influences.”
Town look in need of central midfield cover in the short-term with Luke Hyam out for around a fortnight with the hamstring injury he suffered in the game against Blackpool, while manager Mick McCarthy may also want to increase the competition in his midfield in the final months of the campaign.
Tunnicliffe joined Town on a six-month loan in August and had his loan extended until the end of the season at the start of January before being recalled in order to make his move to Fulham.
The former England U16 and U17 international made 24 starts and five sub appearances for the Blues without scoring.