Jim Magilton says talks are progressing well with Dutch defender Pim Balkestein, while the Blues should name their new international scout by the end of the week. Town have agreed a compensation fee for Balkestein with his current club Heerenveen.

Magilton told the club site: "Talks are going well with Pim and hopefully we can get things tied up quickly and get him in the building.

"We are also in the final stages of appointing an international scout to work alongside our chief scout, Steve McCall.

"The new man should be confirmed by the end of the week and that will open up other avenues for us to explore for players abroad."

Former Blue David Geddis has emerged as the favourite for the job with a number of other names having been mentioned over the weeks, including Balkestein's father Luuk, who is currently in a similar role at Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Balkestein junior is out of contract at Heerenveen, but as he is bedlow 23-years-of-age the Eredivisie club are entitled to a fee, which according to Dutch reports is in the region of £100,000.

The 6ft 4in tall central defender, who has been with Heerenveen since he was 13, leaves the Frisian club without playing a single first team match. The Dutchman spent time at Playford Road at the end of the season and impressed boss Jim Magilton in training and in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Spurs at White Hart Lane.

Balkestein is a player Heerenveen fans would have preferred to have stayed. Erik from feanfans.nl told TWTD: "Balkestein is a player from our young stars team. He has never played in our first team, but he is a great defender for his age. His heading is perfect, but maybe he is slow on the first metres. I think in the future he will be a good player for Ipswich.”

Last summer Balkestein was on standby for the Dutch U21 squad playing in the annual Toulon Tournament.

Photo: Action Images

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