Sunderland boss Steve Bruce says Town are on the verge of signing Black Cats keeper Márton Fülöp. Town made an enquiry regarding the £1 million-rated Hungarian international last week.

Bruce says the former Spurs man is talking personal terms with the Blues: "Márton Fülöp is on the edge of joining Ipswich.

"They are talking personal terms as I understand it, so something should be finalised shortly as long as those talks go well."

An international team-mate and close friend of Tamás Priskin, Fülöp started his career with MTK Hungaria during which time he went on loan to Elöre and Siófok, also in his homeland.

After a three-day trial in July 2004, the 6ft 5in tall keeper joined Spurs. In 2004/05 he spent time on loan at Chesterfield, then the following season moved on to Coventry on a similar basis.

In November 2006 he joined Sunderland, making his move to the Stadium of Light a permanent one in the following January for a fee of £900,000.

Fulop, who has won 21 Hungarian caps, moved on loan to Leicester in August 2007 and was expected to stay with the Foxes until the end of the season. However, after the clubs failed to agree a fee for his permanent move to the Walkers Stadium in the following January — Leicester offered £1 million, Sunderland wanted £3 million — he returned to Wearside.

In February 2008 he briefly joined Stoke on loan but was recalled after four days to cover an injury at Sunderland, however, the Potters and Black Cats agreed a £3 million fee that summer but the move eventually broke down.

Last season Fülöp made only 14 appearances for the Black Cats with Craig Gordon the first choice and Trevor Carson the regular sub. More recently Belgian U21 international Simon Mignolet has also moved to the Stadium of Light. Gordon suffered a broken arm in pre-season and Bruce is looking to sign David James.

Towards the end of the campaign Fülöp joined Manchester City on an emergency loan basis as cover for the injured Shay Given, but his move to Eastlands was never expected to stretch beyond the final games of the Premier League season.

Blues boss Roy Keane has stated that he likes to have three keepers in his squad and with Richard Wright departing in the summer will want an additional glovesman to compete with Brian Murphy and Arran Lee-Barrett. TWTD first reported the Blues’ interest in Fülöp in May.

Yesterday Fülöp, who has a year left on his Sunderland contact, was linked with newly-promoted La Liga side Hercules but he understood to have turned down the move to Spain. Anderlecht and Olympiakos were also reportedly interested earlier in the summer, along with a couple of Premier League sides.

Over the weekend, the Blues were mentioned in connection with former Manchester United keeper Roy Carroll, now with Odense in Denmark. However, the Northern Irishman says he knows nothing of the story: “Nothing, absolutely nothing! That story is probably a good reason not to return to England at this time of the year as the press is always extra busy!

“If I am going to leave Odense it would only be for Real Madrid, but I am probably a bit too late for that.”

Elsewhere, reported Town target Gary Hooper has completed his move to Celtic.

Photo: Action Images

crazyblue added 13:03 - Jul 27 As much as it annoys me another sunderland player is linked with town, he is a good keeper and could be a great addition! Sounds like he's had more clubs than Marcus Bent!
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Jim added 13:03 - Jul 27 We need a right back, 2 strikers, a decent creative midfielder and some width in midfield. Therefore we spend £1m on a goalkeeper!!!!! Excellent.
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blueherts added 13:09 - Jul 27 Great target man up front with Priskin - Civelli supplying the crosses - watch the Hungarians go - lets buy Rickie Lambert and play him in Goal
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mickeyjb added 13:20 - Jul 27 If this is the first of the significant signings then great, however if this is the only significant signing then its utter bollox and makes no sence when our priorities lay else where.
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TractorGeek added 13:32 - Jul 27 When Keane goes... and hopefully that is very soon, this absurd piece of nonsenscial business will be his epitaph.... along with martin,prisking,edwards, kennedy, rhodes, garvan, d wright et al
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suffolksam added 14:06 - Jul 27 total waste of money should have spent it on a new manager
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robdaful added 14:12 - Jul 27 Even tho it hasn't happened.- I hope it does. Yay. 1/3 of Keane's super trio. Just need Chopra and Finnan. Looks like we might need another striker with Wickham out for a while.
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BoredWithThisNow added 14:19 - Jul 27 Roy Keane = John Duncan in the skill he has shown in pummeling all the footballing flair and tradition out of our fantastic club. He should be thoroughly ashamed.
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ramseyn added 14:20 - Jul 27 Good signing, if it happens. Can't understand how some people are slating this. It's improvement. Murphy has done nothing wrong, fulop is just better. In the same way, Connor wickham has done nothing wrong, but if torres became available we wouldn't moan. I know that's being ridiculous, but it's the principle of improvement. Fulop is better than murphy. I also agree however that its essential this MUST be one of a few signings to come.

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Seasonticketsteve added 15:10 - Jul 27 Good signing-his distribution cant be any worse than Murphys! Chopra, Jay Simpson, Jay-Emanual Thomas, Finnan & maybe a central midfielder/defender on loan and we are sorted-not much to do with just over a week to the season Keane!
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robdaful added 15:16 - Jul 27 Some reason the minority of 'fans' always fine something bad to say.
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jayessess added 15:20 - Jul 27 What a retarded signing. Just illustrates the lunacy that is RK's transfer policy. If Murphy isn't good enough, then why let RW go without offering him a contract? Why sign a 27 year old for money who isn't good enough to be first choice goalkeeper? Why spend money on a player that is so surplus to requirements as Sunderland that the let him toddle off and help Citeh for a few games for the craic of it? If we really need Fulop why sign him in late July and not a month ago? (It's not like he's central to Sunderland's plans ffs) If doing this only occurred to Keane now, why did he let our supposed number one goalkeeper leave on a free? If the transfer kitty isn't bottomless, why is he spending 1m of it on a position we have players for? This is a bizarre signing, and you're nuts if you think otherwise.

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ramseyn added 15:25 - Jul 27 Jayessess : If Murphy isn't good enough, then why let RW go without offering him a contract? Because he wasn't good enough either. Simple.
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hollywoodginge added 15:26 - Jul 27 Good signing, the same people were complaining when we signed begovic, keane has 3 keepers in his squads, like it or not its his way. On fulop just look at the clubs that were in for him, that says to me he has got something about him and if he turns down European football to play for us well I'd say were lucky to have him and I for one am greatful. COYB
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hollywoodginge added 15:26 - Jul 27 Good signing, the same people were complaining when we signed begovic, keane has 3 keepers in his squads, like it or not its his way. On fulop just look at the clubs that were in for him, that says to me he has got something about him and if he turns down European football to play for us well I'd say were lucky to have him and I for one am greatful. COYB
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blueherts added 16:05 - Jul 27 Does Keane know he cant play all three at once
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jayessess added 17:23 - Jul 27 ramseym: first - obviously Richard Wright IS good enough for the championship. He's got years of experience that testify to that fact, not least when he was a lot less experienced than now. second - so Keane signed a goalkeeper to replace him, who, err, also isn't good enough and now needs to sign another one. What a fantastic strategist this man is.
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ramseyn added 19:03 - Jul 27 Jayessess : think you'll find keane signed murphy once wright was seriously injured, not to replace him. And as for fulop not being a first teamer, he's back up to a keeper that cost £10 million. If he was good enough for man city to trust when they were pushing for champions league then he's good enough for me.
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jas0999 added 19:42 - Jul 27 Yet again people complain.
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tractaboy added 19:51 - Jul 27 Can't see whats the problem, better keeper than Murphy. I'd have 3 keepers. Has everyone forgotten what happened last season when Begovic was recalled, Wright got injured and we were very lucky that ALB had a decent run. It could've gone very wrong.
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FoghornGleghorn added 20:02 - Jul 27 @jas0999 - always a useful commentator aren't you? So, after the point where we replaced an erratic Wright with Murphy, what was at the heart of last year's problems? Was it the goalkeeping, or was it the unsettled team and the complete lack of threat at the other end? Yet here we are days away from the start of the new season, with less strikers than we had, a likely seven players who know they're not wanted...but possibly a shiny new goalkeeper, presumably at the expense of a fair amount of budget. If Chopra rocks up then there's less grounds for doubting RK, but I for one am getting increasingly concered as the days run down. And I'd rather express that concern than just blindly cheer your hero's every move as the memory of attractive football at FPR gets more distant.

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jayessess added 23:17 - Jul 27 ramseym: we'd be nailed on to sign Murphy for a long time prior to signing him, whilst Wrighty was still fit, and Murphy stayed in the team when he was fit. He was blatantly signed to replace him. Bear in mind this was another player who had 5 full seasons as number one for an Ipswich team far better than this one, without anyone questioning his ability and another season after his return in which he was POTY. He's good enough for this level (and is another footballer who has played some of his worst football under RK). It's got nothing to do with whether Fulop is good enough or not. I've no doubt that he is. It's the sheer ridiculousness of our long-term planning - that we let a good goalkeeper go without having a replacement lined up, ostensbibly because Murphy was good enough, then change our minds right near the end of the summer and spunk seven figures on a new goalie. The money pit isn't bottomless people, if we need to get 7 players off the wage bill, what sense is there in this? It's the same idiocy - D.Wright not offered a contract - yet we're spending money on signing 34 year old left backs. Players who have played good football for the club thoughtlessly turfed out with no realistic plan to replace them so we can bring in people at the same level.

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blue_floyd added 00:22 - Jul 28 Why are we wasting money on another goalkeeper when surely a decent striker is what's really needed, especially now Wickham is injured? Evans & Clegg should be pulling out all the stops to sign Chopra now, not signing someone for a position where we already have adequate cover.
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