Town keeper Arran Lee-Barrett has agreed a new 18-month deal with the club. The 25-year-old’s short-term contract with the Blues was due to end today.

Boss Roy Keane said: "I think Arran should be signing today and he deserves a new contract. He has done well for us but the hard work starts now. He knows he has got a battle on with Brian Murphy for the number one jersey and who knows if there will be another keeper coming in."

Lee-Barrett added: "There were one or two whispers from other clubs but staying at Ipswich was always the thing I wanted.

"I'm really enjoying my time here and the club have been great to me. They have shown a lot of faith in me, so it was an easy decision to make."

Last week, Keane said he had been delighted with the Lee-Barrett since he joined the club on a short-term deal after Shane Supple’s retirement in August: "Arran’s done very, very well for us, but you have to remember that we’ve done well for Arran. Four or five months ago he was in no man’s land.”

Lee-Barrett was in the same year in the Town academy as Darren Bent and Darren Ambrose but was released at 16 when he moved on to Norwich’s youth set-up, where he worked with Blues keeper-coach James Hollman.

After spells with Cardiff, Weymouth and Coventry, he established himself as first-choice at Hartlepool, before being released last summer.

The 6ft 2in tall glovesman has made eight starts and one sub appearance for Town.

Photo: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

streety86 added 19:25 - Jan 21 Lee lee lee barratt!
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bluepeter added 19:40 - Jan 21 most loanees take a dive when offered a proper contract when coming here. This lad deserves a contract, well done. ( I know he wasn't on loan, but you know what I mean)
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kirbs added 19:52 - Jan 21 well done arron! i dont know why town fans want grant holt? i know he has been scoring for fun but the fact that he is wearing a norwich shirt every saturday is enough to pt me off! lambert is a better shout then holt as he has constantly been scoring for fun in the past 2 seasons! i hope we get a striker in soon as we are still in a position to get into the play offs if we had a goal scorer, maybe gary hooper from scunthorpe wouldnt be a bad shout either he looks decent

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cbower added 20:35 - Jan 21 ALB certainly deserved his contract and 18 months is just what I anticipated. This will give him ample chance to stake a claim for a regualr place in the first team. He is in posession of the shirt and at the moment he deserves to be in No.1 spot. Murphy will do well to dislodge him on current form. If Richard Wright stays beyond the end of the season after he recovers from injury, competition to be ITFC keeper next season will be fierce. This is exactly what we want. Keane is building, be patient and I think we will be extremely competitive.........next year!

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WickedBlue added 20:37 - Jan 21 UNFECKINGBELIEVABLE!!!!! Great new about ALB he deserves the new contract now the hard part comes in maintaining this standard. The first part of the message as to the people now trying to blame RW for the poor start of the season. Why oh why do we have so many tw@ts as fans? There were a lot of reasons for the poor start including a poor preseason and a new team not gelled together. One of the big reasons was the poorest defence I think town had ever had, mainly for players being played out of postion and poor performances from players. Finally RK did what everyone was screaming for putting Delaney in the centre and bringing back Wright as LB, that with peope starting to play together and jelling and the hard work done by RK has started the turn around for us. The games RW played for us this season yes he made a couple of errors that led to goals but that happens to goal keepers but face facts if it weren't for RW in goal we would have lost some matches by far more goals especially Newcastle. He did well for a goal keeper that had no defence in front of him so get of his back. Fecking morons!!!!

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Super_Hero added 22:57 - Jan 21 Just seen town have Max Gradel from leicster £200k, you heard it here first sports fans!
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AJblue added 23:16 - Jan 21 yes super hero...says he has transfered on wikipedia. Plays left or right wing or as a second striker.
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Super_Hero added 23:28 - Jan 21 Hopefully will be a young talent. Havnt heard to much about him tho!
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AJblue added 23:35 - Jan 21 been on loan at Leeds, they tried to sign him, Leicester said no, thats why i still await confirmation, rather than just wikipedia
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north_stand77 added 23:58 - Jan 21 Arran has done really well for us and been very reliable, especially as he was kind of chucked in the deep end. Well done kiddo!
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multipulemicky added 06:28 - Jan 22 goood lad im very pleased for him
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Northstandbootboy added 10:27 - Jan 22 Well done Arran, well deserved!!!
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