Brentford manager Thomas Frank has admitted that Blues target Alan Judge could be set to leave the Bees in the coming days with Town leading the chase but with other clubs also now understood to be in the hunt.
The Blues have been in talks regarding a move for the 30-year-old since the end of last week with a report in West London last night claiming a deal is close to being concluded. However, other sides are believed to have started to show interest in the Republic of Ireland international over the weekend.
"There’s rumours about different clubs and it maybe could happen that he is not here any more," Frank told Football.London after the Bees’ 3-1 home victory over Stoke on Saturday. "But yeah, that is the situation right now."
Judge, who is out of contract at Griffin Park at the end of the season and is available for a cut-price fee, was left out of the squad for that game having only made only seven starts and 17 sub appearances for the Bees this season, scoring twice.
Asked about his interest in Judge on Saturday following Saturday's 1-0 victory over Rotherham, Blues boss Paul Lambert was keeping a straight bat.
"I don’t know where that one’s come from,” he insisted. "I just woke up to that this morning. I know of the lad, a really good player. I just woke up to that this morning.
"We can’t do another loan. We’ll have six and if you have to manage six loans it’s too much. I don’t want to go down that road, having another loan because I think you’ve got to leave one lad out.”
With Judge’s contract is up at the end of the season the deal Town are believed to be negotiating is a permanent switch.
"Is it? Is that what they’re saying?” Lambert continued. "I don’t know. I didn’t really pay much attention to it because of the game. He’s a really good player, a really good player.”
The former Blackburn, Plymouth (loan) and Notts County man suffered a broken leg at Portman Road in April 2016, an injury which kept him out of first-team action until January 2018.
Dubliner Judge previously came close to joining the Blues from the Magpies in the summer of 2013, however, he instead returned to Blackburn, where he had previously been a youth player, for a second spell.