Town are being linked with out-of-favour Sunderland keeper Keiren Westwood. The Irish international was previously targeted by the Blues in the summer of 2011 before he joined the Black Cats and also earlier on his career prior to his move from Carlisle to Coventry.

Westwood has also been linked with Hull City recently but earlier this week Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill said he knew nothing of their interest and played down the chances of the 28-year-old leaving.

"I haven't heard of an interest from Hull," O'Neill said. "But Keiren clearly wants to play some games, of course he wants to play.

"My situation is that I have a very good goalkeeper in reserve, but it is hard to drop Simon Mignolet when he is playing so well.

"The fact is I'm very reluctant to let anyone go because we simply don't have the back-up. A manager did ask me about Keiren a few days ago - rang me manager-to-manager, which seems to be very rare these days - and I just had to tell him we couldn't do anything."

Town — who have also been linked with exiting Nottingham Forest keeper Lee Camp and Blackpool’s Matt Gilks in recent days — could be in the market for another keeper with loanee Stephen Henderson having returned to West Ham.

Henderson, who has an ankle injury which is likely to keep him out of action for two weeks, is keen to return to Portman Road and manager Mick McCarthy is also interested in bringing him back, although has concerns about the 24-hour recall clause the Hammers insist on including in any deal.

Westwood, who is 6ft 2in tall, started his career with hometown club Manchester City but failed to make a senior appearance there or during a 2003/04 loan spell at Oldham.

The following summer he joined Carlisle where he spent four seasons and made the League One PFA team in his final year before making a £750,000 switch to Coventry. He moved to Sunderland on a free transfer in June 2011, signing a contract until the summer of 2014.

Westwood, who has won 14 full caps with Ireland, for whom he qualifies via his grandmother, has made only eight Premier League starts and one sub appearance since joining the Black Cats, in addition to four appearances in the Capital One Cup.

Three of those games came this season and have been his only involvement at club level this season.

Photo: Action Images

WeirdFishes added 21:34 - Jan 11 Would be a fantastic signing, however O'Neil seems very stubborn over lettin players leave so I can't see it happen mind. One of the best keepers around IMO
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lTFC added 21:41 - Jan 11 we should take a punt at craig gordon, an amazing keeper who currently does not have a club... worth a try
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manualthetisfanclub added 21:43 - Jan 11 Decent keeper westwood,but give loach a run! Got to be the long term option. Besides o'neil won't let him go. Move on to new targets,creative midfielder,winger,defender,don't think we need anymore strikers with 9 to choose from!!!!!!!!!!
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Michael11 added 22:32 - Jan 11 'A manager did ask me about Keiren a few days ago - rang me manager-to-manager, which seems to be very rare these days - and I just had to tell him we couldn't do anything' Sounds like something Mick would probably do, but if he's said there is nothing he could do then its a bit of a nothing story really. He is a very decent keeper though so wouldn't mind him coming!

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Killieblue added 22:54 - Jan 11 Agree with ITFC that Craig Gordon would be worth considering
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MilkyJnr added 23:10 - Jan 11 I'm disappointed Loach isn't seen as our clear number 1! Anyway I think our money should go on a creative player, Jay Tabb maybe he's surplus now?
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casanovacrow added 23:23 - Jan 11 good keeper, they'd want a recall clause for sure though so wont happen. still think we got greater priorities, creative wingers and an attacking midfielder for a start
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Karlosfandangal added 00:32 - Jan 12 We need to sign a keeper who is going to be here for more than 6 months or stick Loach between the sticks and get a loan in to back up Loach and ALB
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Lightningboy added 00:32 - Jan 12 God , we've had so many keepers in the last 7 or 8 seasons - it's ridiculous really. Would be nice to either give Loach the chance or make a really good permanent signing. Anyone know how many we've had since we dropped back into the championship in 2002?
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Karlosfandangal added 01:05 - Jan 12 Remember the days when it was Cooper as number 1 and Sivell as number 2 Wonder if we will ever have a number 1 make over 500 appearances and a number 2 just under 200 appearances again
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R_LAMB3 added 01:07 - Jan 12 It was on sky sports news tonight that Lee Camp can leave Forest and my money will be him coming to join town. I cant see Henderson playing for us again and we will need another keeper in case of injurys. As to having all these strikers on board now and still a chance of getting campbell back i think chopras days at Town could soon be over if some of the new boys start banging in the goals. Ithink we have a great chance of getting campbell back because harry is looking to spend millions on top class strikers and he have class strikers still to come back from injurys to and campbell wont want to sit on the bench Campbell loved it at Ipswich and is a big favourite with the fans and i think he will be a Town player before the tranfer window shut.

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bath_blue added 09:11 - Jan 12 Lightningboy - I count 16 who have actually made an appearance for the first team in that time: Andy Marshall, Lewis Price, Kelvin Davis, Shane Supple, Mike Pollitt (loan), Stephen Bywater (loan), Neil Alexander, Richard Wright, Asmir Begovic (loan), Brian Murphy, Marton Fulop, David Stockdale (loan), Alex McCarthy (loan), Arran Lee-Barrett, Scott Loach, Stephen Henderson (loan).

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happybeingblue added 09:11 - Jan 12 loach was jewells choice not micks!! same with the strikers, makes sense that when you take over a team at the bottom ,to improve you are looking at wholesale changes despite the usual early management media speak that you will only tweak here and there.last decent keeper we had was neil alexander.
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theobald1985 added 11:23 - Jan 12 craig gordon would be a great addition didant keane pay about 10 million for him when he was at sunderland.let him and loach fight it out for the jersey or alternitvly mick needs to state that loach is number 1 and either keep alb or sign a promising young keeper as back up.its a shame shane supples confidence was destroyed to such an extent that he quit the game over here as i really liked him.

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Ipswichbusiness added 14:58 - Jan 12 I would like Loach to be given a good run, mostly because I think he's a fine 'keeper but also because I'm getting a bit tired of here today gone tomorrow loanees (whatever happened to growing our own players?). However, if we must have someone in then I agree that Craig Gordon for the remainder of the season would be a good call.
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