Town boss Mick McCarthy says there have been “a few stories which have had a bit of an effect on the place” recently, including reports linking central defender Christophe Berra with a return to Scotland with either Hearts or Rangers, Nottingham Forest’s move to re-sign skipper Luke Chambers on the final day of the January transfer window and weekend opponents Cardiff City’s interest in keeper Dean Gerken.
Berra, Chambers and Gerken are all out of contract at the end of the season but with the Blues having an option to keep them for a further season.
Speaking last week, McCarthy confirmed that owner Marcus Evans is due to hold talks about new terms with Chambers and that Gerken, who we understand was the subject of an enquiry from Cardiff in January, is close to agreeing a new deal.
Gerken now seems likely to have been the player the Bluebirds were interested in swapping for Emyr Huws, who eventually joined the Blues on loan.
Berra has said he will go back to Scotland, where his four-year-old daughter lives, at some stage with a potential return to his hometown club Hearts having been reported on numerous occasions as well as interest from Rangers, who targeted the 32-year-old before he joined the Blues.
"There are rumours about him moving and there have been a few stories which have had a bit of an effect on the place really [that] we don’t need,” McCarthy said.
"Chambo with Forest on deadline day, then there was rumours about Gerks and Cardiff for a time and then Bezza [Berra].
"It does no favours to us, we just want to get enough points. I’m not really interested in that.
"When we’ve got enough points that we are certain we are staying in this league, there are a number of discussions to be had. We’ve got an option on Christophe, so we’ll wait and see.”
Reflecting on Berra, he added: "He’s been one of the best defenders in the league for beyond the four years here because he was the same when he was at Wolves as well.”
Meanwhile, the Blues are again being linked with a summer move for former loanee Ryan Tunnicliffe.
The 24-year-old was previously linked ahead of the January window and, according to the Daily Mail, Town, QPR, Glasgow Rangers, Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, Reading and Huddersfield are all interested in signing him in the summer when his Fulham contract us up, along with Wigan, where the former Manchester United trainee is currently on loan.