Town boss Paul Lambert is eyeing a move for his former Norwich City winger Anthony Pilkington, who is currently out of favour at Cardiff City.

According to the Daily Mirror, Lambert wants the 30-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, on loan.

TWTD understands that Pilkington is very much on Lambert's radar and is likely to be one of the targets the Blues manager was referring to yesterday when he said he hoped to bring "a few" players in next week.

Wales Online is reporting that Pilkington is set to leave Cardiff to join a Championship club on a permanent basis within the next fortnight, however, any move to Town would be a loan.

Having been a youth player with Preston, Manchester United and hometown club Blackburn, Pilkington dropped into non-league with Atherton Collieries before breaking back into the Football League with Stockport County.

After three years at Edgeley Park, the nine-times-capped Republic of Ireland international joined Huddersfield in 2009 before Lambert made him his sixth Norwich City signing in July 2011 when he paid a fee of £2 million rising to £3 million.

Pilkington moved on to Cardiff in the summer of 2014 for £1 million but has been out of favour for the last two seasons.

In 2017/18 he made only one Championship start, in addition to seven appearances from the bench and games in the cup competitions, scoring a total of five goals, while this season he is yet to feature at all.

Town are expected to complete the loan signing of Hull City striker Will Keane today with the Tigers lining up Middlesbrough’s Ashley Fletcher as his replacement.

Although out of contract in the summer, Keane’s Tigers deal includes an option for a further year which is why the move is a loan rather than a permanent switch.

Hull are happy for Keane to move on, however, if he is a great success during his spell with the Blues there could be the potential to secure a fee for the 25-year-old ex-Manchester United trainee in the summer.

Keane was at Portman Road yesterday to undergo his medical and tie-up the other formalities relating to his switch.

Photo: Action Images

Big_Foot_Blue added 09:29 - Jan 4 Lambert doing a great job of balancing targets. Decent quality experienced Championship players who are all out of contract and could be signed for free in League One if they love the club, the fans and the style of football.
21

martin587 added 09:33 - Jan 4 Excellent championship player.Would be a very good signing if it comes off.I trust Paul 100% in his judgement and passion for our club.
22

Essexnblue added 09:39 - Jan 4 This could be correct however on Monday they quoted that both Lee Tomlin and Pilkington would be allowed to leave. With Tomlin being lined up to come to ITFC and Pilkington mulling over 3 choices of either a loan or permanent. He would make a difference but so would Tomlin who is a game changer
14

beornioblue added 09:47 - Jan 4 Now this would be an improvement lets hope he wants to link back up with Lambert..Havent heard the Tomlin rumour but again would be great !!
9

raycrawfordswig added 09:53 - Jan 4 Think all these moves could come down to wages or if they want to play for us.
3

planetblue_2011 added 09:55 - Jan 4 Yeah happy with Pilkington he was a hit with Norwich under Lambert so hope he can do the same with us. More experience which is good. Good news on Will Keane as well, just hope he can rekindle his form again with town.
9

runningout added 10:07 - Jan 4 get in half decent players that are up for it and winners. Got to pay them well. Not too many of a current squad deserve much: Still love em!!
3

Cakeman added 10:13 - Jan 4 Always been a fan of Pilkington the type who can run well with ball and has an excellent delivery too. Would be good if we could get him in.
10

geminimustang added 10:18 - Jan 4 To be fair to ME,MM & PL appear to have been given similar budgets,two coat buttons and loose change.Sorry,but to me,the Club seem to have accepted relegation when I believe £5-£6M could've made the difference.I accept the players being looked at are all good but they're not going to get you 10 wins before the end of the season.
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:39 - Jan 4 good players, if we can get em in . Lambert knows them and must have some influence when negotiating a deal ,just hope Evans has some ambition , he has gone back into his shell , not that that suprises me, never around when the manure is flying.The ship could go down and he would pop up on some nice island with a smile on his face .
2

ITFCsince73 added 10:43 - Jan 4 I agree geminimustang. I believe the decision was made, and Evans told us, not in so many words when referring to trying something different. To go down in order to go up. Probably cheaper to go that way than trying to compete with parachute clubs. Wheels was put in motion last summer with the recruitment of good quality league 1 players and manager. We have an owner who could write a cheque for £100m and not effect his wealth. But he seems determined to achieve promotion to the promised land by luck rather than cash.

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Razor added 10:58 - Jan 4 Like all this activity---rumoured or not. At least PL is not sitting around being miserable and accepting the inevitable, he is giving it a go within what he is allowed to do and I just love him for that. In our current troubles I support the club even more----a win tomorrow and nice cup draw and then its all forward for next week---COME ON YOU BLUES!!
6

Bert added 10:59 - Jan 4 The sum of £5m to £6m keeps being quoted as the money needed to recruit. That's simply a figure plucked out of the air. If Evan's allows PL to get in decent players who are soon to be out of contract either on loan or permanent that may represent better value so it is not always the case that Evans is not investing.
2

Marinersnose added 11:04 - Jan 4 I heard Jenkinson is another potential loan signing from Arsenal. Hopefully this is true
0

BigBlueMac added 11:11 - Jan 4 With our current league position loans are out best option financially. Pilkington is definitely the sort of experienced championship player we need
3

coolcat added 11:38 - Jan 4 Great to hear if true! Lambert not hanging about. He has the contacts as well. Thank goodness we have him in charge.
6

trueblue97 added 11:42 - Jan 4 Would be a good signing this, also mutch has just been released by crystal palace....
3

Europablue added 12:09 - Jan 4 When I read "Keane was at Portman Road yesterday" my heart sank
3

BlueandTruesince82 added 13:01 - Jan 4 Id take Pilkington....he was vert effective for scum, i dont know why he has fallen so out of favour at Cardiff. Contract up at the end of the season. All makes sense. Need a RB and another striker that will bring goals....still think we're doomed either way mind
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Radlett_blue added 15:08 - Jan 4 Pilkington is made of glass, apparently.
3

wayway added 17:07 - Jan 4 I thought Tomlin was going back to Peterborough. He would be a good signing
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dubblue added 17:20 - Jan 4 Pilkington would certainly be a good signing if we can get him, more so than Keane. Am inclined to agree with geminimustang that ME is reluctant to spend the cash necessary to save us - to be honest he has not been inclined to spend significantly on the transfer market since the days of the Dark Lord (the other Keane!), maybe PL will be lucky and get some hidden gems like MM did with Waghorn and Garner. We can only hope at this stage....

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