Town are reported to be watching West Brom centre-half Pablo Ibáñez with a view to taking him on loan. The 30-year-old Spanish international is currently out of favour at the Hawthorns having signed on a Bosman from Atlético Madrid a year ago.

The Blues are said to have been at the Baggies’ reserve game against Everton on Tuesday to catch Ibáñez in action.

The Madrigueras-born player has made only 12 starts and two sub appearances for West Brom, scoring one goal, and was not in the squad for last week’s season opener with Manchester United.

Ibáñez, who is 6ft 3½ tall, played the full 90 minutes as the Blues beat the Baggies 1-0 in the Carling Cup at Portman Road last season. He has two years remaining on his contract.

Capped 23 times by Spain, including a regular place in the team at the 2006 World Cup, and 10 times at U21 level, Ibáñez came through the ranks at Albacete, progressing to their B team then senior side before moving on to Atlético Madrid, with whom he has played Champions League football, in 2004.

Town boss Paul Jewell is desperate to bring in another centre-half with Damien Delaney and Tommy Smith currently his only options while Ívar Ingimarsson is out with a thigh strain.

Elsewhere, former Blues defender Pim Balkestein has joined Rochdale on loan from Brentford.

Photo: Action Images

bluemonday added 08:55 - Aug 19 Sign him up !
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dannyhegan added 08:57 - Aug 19 He must have been good at one point with all that Spanish experience. Worth a try. What have we got to lose?
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BROTHERBLUE1974 added 09:02 - Aug 19 You'll do for me....
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Umros added 09:03 - Aug 19 Yeah, and we are watching our team get taken apart..............watching?, either its a yes or no surely?. Another non committed Loanie?
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muhrensleftfoot added 09:08 - Aug 19 Ole Ole Ole Pablo, Pablo....
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suffolkpoker added 09:12 - Aug 19 sounds good.. yes please!
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ipswich_is_the_best added 09:17 - Aug 19 Why not with a view to permanent cmon pabs you've already got a song Here pabbie pabbie you know you want to First team footy on a plate
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Calmingwind added 09:33 - Aug 19 @umros Yes, watching - that's how scouting works you see
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WaltownBlueNaze added 09:37 - Aug 19 I can't believe we still have NOT signed a CB - Delaney and Smith are so short of confidence - its not looking good for tomorrow !
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bluearmy78 added 09:44 - Aug 19 WaltonBlueNaze, totally agree!!! We need another CB pronto, its now Friday and we've got a game tomorrow!!!
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Jack_hughes2 added 09:47 - Aug 19 Great experience, be a great signing for us!
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blue_em_away added 09:49 - Aug 19 Umros Bullard was on loan??????????? At worst its a good shop window for players.
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icetruckiller added 09:51 - Aug 19 We need to be hearing about signing CB's, not just looking.
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MickMillsTash added 09:52 - Aug 19 does this make him better or worse than McCauley?
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TimmyH added 09:53 - Aug 19 never heard of him..I think we're getting desperate. Better to bide our time, don't forget we're away tomorrow.
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Lanky added 10:02 - Aug 19 Watching isn't good enough, we've got a game tomorrow.
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algarvefan added 10:04 - Aug 19 Zzzz.....zzzzzz.....zzzzzzzz......zzzzzz!!!!!
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Hermann_eats_puffin added 10:05 - Aug 19 Agree with the point made by MickMillsTash in that if WBA are willing to let this guy go out on loan are we to deduce that he's behind McAuley in the pecking order so perhaps it wouldn't be such a spectacular signing. Whilst we desperately need two new CBs we also need to make sure that they're of good enough quality.
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KP_WBA added 10:08 - Aug 19 Hello, WBA fan here in peace. I just wanted to say that if you get Ibanez then you won't be able to believe your luck when you see him play. Whenever he's played for us he's been absolute class and hasn't put a foot wrong, looked like a Premiership defender through and through. Apart from Jonas Olsson and our left back Nicky Shorey he was our only defender who looked consistently good and inspired confidence. He's a good all round centre back really - good heading ability, very good tackler, good positionally, good at reading the game, a goal threat from set plays etc,, but his most impressive trait is how calm and composed he is on the pitch, never ever seems to panic. I'm not the only Albion fan who rates him. If you look on the WBA forum (westbrom.com) you'll see that virtually all of us rate him very highly and we're all completely baffled and somewhat annoyed as to why he's only played for us 10 times in the league and why Hodgson doesn't seem interested in giving him a chance. It's a total mystery. It's rumoured that it's due to him not putting enough effort in during training or because of language problems (although his English has improved a lot since the start of last season), but I doubt you'll be worrying too much about those either of those issues (if the rumours are true).

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Sindre94 added 10:12 - Aug 19 Quality defender, seriously. If I see any moaners now we might as well give up the defender chase, because he's on of the best ones at the market! To be fair, defenders are at their best when they approach their 30's, look at Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Carles Puyol, Nemanja Vidic, etc etc. Ibanez is QUALITY, sign him up please, that will keep the moaners quiet, atleast some of them!

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jas0999 added 10:36 - Aug 19 We already have two players on LOAN. Look what happened to Norwich a few seasons back when they started to rely on loanees rather than sign permanent players. Sure, it's good to have a couple of loanees in the side. Bullard was a great signing and made a big difference - but playing and relying on three loanees who may or may not have too much interest in the club? Could be risky. Having said that, no doubting that he is a quality player.

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Tractamatt added 10:38 - Aug 19 Could the deal be done today? No so we're left with hinge and bracket in central defense tomorrow.
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HolbrookBlue added 10:41 - Aug 19 Not considering the merits of this until he actually is signed. Too much rumour and little substance. We need something different for tomorrow!!
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yorkshireblue added 10:52 - Aug 19 Don't know a great deal about him. Hopefully Gmac and Fulop can sell the club to him if true. I wonder if we tried to secure him as part of the Fulop deal? If not, and we are genuinely interested, why not?
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BrettenhamBlue added 10:53 - Aug 19 Even if the deal is done today- it would be very unfair to throw him in the deep-end without ever having communicated with any of the rest of the team. He would need a few days AT LEAST to climatise as a defender. If he plays on Saturday it would be paramount to suicide- he would have no idea of the strengths/weaknesses of the rest of the team/ no idea what to watch out from from the Posh. He would have no idea of our tactics either (sometimes I wonder if we ever have any other than hoof and run...). Looks like it is Delaney and Smith (unless Jewell decides to play JET there). Posh strikers must be rubbing their hands in excitement.....

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