TWTD understands Derby County midfielder Jason Knight is one of a number of central midfielders on Town’s radar, the Blues having ended their lengthy pursuit of Peterborough United’s Jack Taylor.
Taylor, 24, who had interested Town since last summer, was the subject of several bids during January, the last close to £2 million, and the Blues revisited the situation again at the start of this summer.
However, we understand the club has now ended its interest in the Republic of Ireland call-up and is actively looking at other potential central midfield recruits, including Knight, who was linked by the Daily Mail among other sources overnight.
Knight, 22, joined the Rams’ academy from hometown club Cabinteely in 2017 and progressed into the first team, making his debut at the start of 2019/20. He has now made 136 starts and 30 sub appearances, scoring 14 times.
Capped 20 times by the Republic of Ireland, scoring once, Knight is understood to have been the subject of two offers from Bristol City this summer, the second £1.5 million, and the Robins are believed to be considering another bid. Stoke City have also been linked.
Ireland boss Stephen Kenny believes Knight should be playing at a higher level than League One and recently said the midfielder was on the "on the verge of” a move away from the Rams, a comment which was dismissed as "inaccurate” by his club.
Speaking after Ireland’s 3-0 victory over Gibraltar on Monday, in which he was named man of the match, Knight said he was aware of what had been said.
"Yeah, I heard those comments, but I have a year left on my contract,” he told Independent.ie.
"I'm an ambitious person and I want to play at the highest level I can at club and international level.
"But Derby is a great club and there are a lot of great people at the club. I think there are foundations being built again to make it go up the levels. There are good times ahead at Derby, the club is in a good place now.
"It’s a fine line and I will have to assess everything in the summer. I will get away for a couple of weeks and shut my mind off and make the decision in the pre-season.”