TWTD understands that the Blues are continuing their pursuit of Hearts defender Jordan McGhee.

Town have had two offers for the 19-year-old right-back or centre-half rejected by the SPL side, the latest in the region of £250,000.

Hearts are holding out for £500,000 and we understand talks are ongoing between the two clubs. A deal involving an initial fee somewhere between those two figures plus the usual top-ups seems likely.

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson says his club is determined to get what he believes is the right price.

"They put an offer in which we believe was nowhere near his value," he said. "Jordan has a great future here. He's a big player here, he's a Scotland U21 international and captain.

"So if he is going to go, it's going to be for a lot of money. Jordan has a great future here. He's a big player here, he's a Scotland U21 international and captain."

"Every player has a price. I don't want to sell him but if someone comes in with an acceptable value then we will look at it. But the offer that came in is nowhere near the value of a player of his calibre. We don't need to sell."

Speaking yesterday, manager Mick McCarthy confirmed that a player in the mould of McGhee is his priority, although he wouldn’t be drawn into discussing specific targets.

“If I could get a versatile defender from somewhere who could play left-back and centre-half or right-back and centre-half, who can cover a couple of positions, that’s something I’d be looking for,” he said.

McGhee came through the ranks at Tynecastle and has won Scotland caps with the U15s, U16s and U18s as well as the U21s.

Having broken into the Hearts first team late in 2012/13, McGhee has gone on to make 33 starts and 11 sub appearances, scoring four goals.

East Kilbride-born McGhee has already attracted interest from Premier League clubs, with Aston Villa and Swansea City recently linked, and in 2013 Juventus were reported to be keeping tabs on him. In January he signed a new Hearts contract which runs until the summer of 2017.

Meanwhile, Town are reported to be one of a number of clubs showing interest in former loanee Richard Stearman.

According to the Daily Mirror Wolves have turned down a £1.5 million bid from Fulham for the 27-year-old with the Blues, Hull City and Burnley claimed to be keeping an eye on developments.

McCarthy is a big fan of Stearman, who was at Portman Road for the second half of 2012/13, but with Town seemingly closing in on the addition of McGhee, a move for another similar but more experienced player - who would see himself as a regular starter rather than a squad player - would appear unlikely.

Photo: Action Images

ozzie added 23:28 - Aug 7 May I just remind the folks with very short memories that when ME joined Town he threw money at the club, which the managers were quite happy to throw away on players that had a few years left in there life as a footballer. Now we have a manager who is good with a budget and good at finding bargain type players and turning a profit for the club, so £250,000 is as rightly pointed out a lot of money to just throw away if we can bide our time and pay MB £50,000 and use the other £200,000 for our wage structure. Just a point the £8mill for Mings will be used in wage structure for all of the club and not just the players, If Evans keeps a couple of Mill then great as that will only pay the interest owed by the club to Evans. The season is upon us COYB and next season mb playing the big boys?

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BrettenhamBlue added 00:39 - Aug 8 I love Robbie Neilson. He has a habit of repeating the same thing over and over again, As another reader has pointed out he's not first choice right back at Hearts so chances are that may be good for us. He will be looking to move on to a new club where he will have a chance of regularly being in the starting 11. Given the fact that he is Captain of the Scotland U21's, he should expect to be a first choice right back. As Ozzie has pointed out; we could end up saving 100,000 on this deal which could actually end up being a 3 month loan players wages (plus agents fees for a short term deal). As jas0999 has pointed out, we have lost a LOT of players so an extra player either on loan or on a free would be great.

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GiveusaWave added 00:46 - Aug 8 We have a right back now in Josh Emmanuel. I'll put my faith in him until he proves otherwise. We also have Skuse, Parr (once fit), Chambers and Tabb (yes, he played a couple of times for Reading at right back) so we do have adequate cover in this area. Would love to see McGhee join but we may need the money to invest elsewhere (to replace so many players who have left). We have an extremely small squad at this point.

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distractored added 03:16 - Aug 8 Judging by that photo I doubt he'd be able to grow an ITFC regulation beard.
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Warkys_Tash added 09:42 - Aug 8 Hilarious comments on here from some on here. Have 99% of you who are saying, just pay it, even heard of him before this report - let alone even see him play!! Freddie Verseli didn't make it & neither did the very highly rated Elliot Hewitt. We have to be careful splashing 0.5M on a player who doesn't appear to be first choice at his current club.
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maninashed added 13:16 - Aug 8 MarcusEvansReborn how do you know that? it certainly isn't what Marcus says in this mornings EADT.
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Seasider added 14:43 - Aug 8 Surprised he is not first choice for a Scottish Prem club which lets not forget is about same standard as Championship or less. Looks like this chap is the cheapest option and we generally shop at the 50p and £1 shop these days instead of Waitrose (lol)
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