Town have confirmed Simon Hunt as the club's new head of international scouting and recruitment. The Blues' former European scout was one of the names quickly linked after Town announced their intention to appoint a new overseas talent finder.

Hunt was previously with the Blues between 2000 and 2003 after being recruited by former boss George Burley, not long after he had left his job as manager of Swedish club Kalmar FF. Hunt spent much of his playing career in Sweden after moving from Wrexham to Elfsborg in the mid-eighties.

More recently, 45-year-old Hunt left a coaching role with West Brom in December after only seven months in the post, having previously held scouting positions at Southampton, Hearts and Derby, where he again worked with ex-Town boss George Burley.

Boss Jim Magilton told the club site that Burley and former Town coach Tony Mowbray's willingness to employ Hunt illustrates his abilities: "It shows you how highly George and Tony rate him that they employed Simon again after working with him here at Ipswich.

"Simon brings with him a wealth of experience of the European game and that is an area that we need to exploit.

"The English market dictates that you have to pay sometimes a little bit more than you would expect for a player.

"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."

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