Bartosz Bialkowski’s new Blues contract is reportedly will reportedly make him the highest-paid player at the club.
As reported yesterday following the 2-0 friendly defeat at Braintree, manager Paul Hurst said the club were getting closer to persuading the 31-year-old Polish international to stay at Portman Road.
We understand the three-year deal with the usual option for a further season is very near to being finalised and that the new contract could even be signed as soon as tomorrow with Bialkowski due back at Portman Road following his post-World Cup break.
According to The Sun on Sunday, the deal is worth £20,000-a-week, which we understand to be an inflated figure, a wage they claim to be the highest in Town’s history.
Although certainly making Bialkowski the highest-paid member of the current squad - released striker David McGoldrick was previously the top earner with his deal understood to be worth a figure not too far off Bialkowski’s new terms - the likes of Matteo Sereni and Finidi George were paid more than £20,000-a-week back in the Blues’ Premier League days.
Town owner Marcus Evans has been forced to push the boat out to keep Bialkowski, who otherwise would have been out of contract next summer, in the wake of interest from Birmingham City, the Blues having rebuffed offers of £2.75 million and £3 million over the last fortnight.
Wages at the level of Bialkowski’s new Town deal will have been on offer at St Andrew’s, while the Blues have been anticipating further interest in the former Notts County and Southampton man from elsewhere.
The new deal is almost certainly a big leap on the contract which former manager Mick McCarthy prematurely announced had been agreed in January.