Town are hoping to confirm the signing of Rangers striker Martyn Waghorn in time for the 27-year-old to make his Blues debut in the Carabao Cup at Luton tomorrow.
Reports that Town had agreed a fee of around £1 million with the Glasgow giants for the former Leicester man emerged last night with the Blues expecting to get the deal done today, although claims that he is already undergoing a medical at Portman Road are thought to be premature.
With more paperwork involved in cross-border deals, including international clearance, it might take a little longer for the move to be confirmed - as was the case with Joe Garner’s switch from Ibrox earlier in the summer - than the club would ideally like and it may well be that the paperwork will be rubber-stamped too late for Waghorn to face the Hatters.
However, TWTD understands it’s a switch which is all but certain to go through. Town agreed the fee with Rangers on Friday with talks regarding the move having continued over the weekend.
Blues boss Mick McCarthy is likely to comment on the situation when he speaks to the media at 1pm in a press conference which is not being shown live by TWTV or elsewhere at the club’s request. However, we will be live-blogging the main news on the TWTD Forum.
🎟 | Please note that tomorrow's @Carabao_Cup tie with @LutonTown at Kenilworth Road is ALL TICKET for #itfc fans pic.twitter.com/TOUTQexNb3
— Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) August 7, 2017
South Shields-born Waghorn came through the youth system at local club Sunderland - who are understood to have been keen to re-sign him this summer - and made a handful of Premier League appearances while at the Stadium of Light, as well as having spells on loan at Charlton and Leicester before joining the Foxes on a permanent basis for £3 million in August 2010.
The 5ft 10in tall former England U19 and U21 international was loaned to Hull City, Millwall and Wigan while a Leicester player before joining the Latics full-time on a free transfer in April 2014.
He moved on to Rangers in July 2015, signing a three-year deal. While with the Ibrox club Waghorn made 63 starts and 15 sub appearances, scoring 44 goals, 16 of them last season.
During 2015/16 Waghorn, who can also operate in wide areas, helped Rangers to carry off the Scottish Championship and Scottish Challenge Cup. He was also named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for the Championship that season.
Waghorn was left out of the 18 for yesterday's 2-1 victory over Motherwell, the Glasgow giants' opening league fixture of the season.
Previously he started the first leg of the Europa League qualifier against Niedercorn from Luxembourg at end of June but was left out of the second match the following week.
The Rangers squad is currently in a state of flux with manager Pedro Caixinha, who was appointed in March, looking to offload a number of players in order to bring in his own recruits.
The Blues have already benefited from Rangers' summer fire sale by signing Joe Garner, the scorer of a debut winner in Saturday's 1-0 victory over Birmingham, back in June.