Boss Jim Magilton says he is working hard on signing new players ahead of the 2008/09 season, but says the Blues will not be held to ransom as they seek to strengthen their squad, despite having Marcus Evans's millions behind them.

Magilton told the club site: "I can reassure our fans that we are working very hard to bring the right players to this club.

"There has not been a lot of business in the transfer market in general at the moment because it's still early days, but we are working behind the scenes, monitoring situations at other clubs.

"It's a case of being patient, though. We are exploring every avenue and I'm sure our fans will be happy with the players we will bring in.”

Cardiff have reportedly slapped a £3 million price-tag on Roger Johnson's head, while Leicester are believed to want £1.75 million for Magilton's number one target to replace Jason De Vos, Northern Irish international Gareth McAuley. However, Magilton says that he will not pay out silly money: "The perception out there is that we are prepared to spend anything on a player. That's not the case and never has been the case.

"We are very prudent. What we want to do is make sure it's the right player for us. If we have to pay what we have to pay for a player to get the right man in, then we will but we will be very diligent in the way we do our business."

Town are unlikely to make a major signing this week with Heerenveen youngster Pim Balkestein expected to complete his move in the next few days and the club likely to name their new international scout by the end of the week.

Magilton says the new scout will assist Steve McCall in recruiting overseas talent, which is often available at prices lower than UK-based players: "The English market dictates that you have to pay sometimes a little bit more than you would expect.

"There are a lot of good foreign players our there that can do the same job for a lot less money, so we need to spread the net far and wide for Ipswich Town and having an international scout on board will help.”

Former Blue David Geddis has emerged as the favourite for the job with a number of other names linked in recent months.

Elsewhere, ex-Town loanee Mark Burchill has joined League Two Rotherham United from Dunfermline.

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