Town have confirmed the return of Bersant Celina on a season-long loan from French second division side Dijon, subject to international clearance.

TWTD revealed that the Blues were on the verge of adding the 24-year-old to their squad yesterday morning, having broken the news that Town were chasing the Kosovo international in June. Celina becomes the club's 18th senior addition of the summer.

“Bersant has been here before and his quality in the final third is a given," manager Paul Cook told the club site.

“Bersant’s quality is there for all to see and he doesn’t need a lot of explaining to Ipswich fans from me.

“He’s got really good technique, he’s got great pace and he’s an international footballer. We’re absolutely delighted that he has come back to Ipswich Town Football Club.”

Town CEO, Mark Ashton, added: “We're delighted to finally be able to welcome Bersant back to Portman Road.

“He is a player that we have been pursuing since the beginning of the transfer window. Our supporters will know about the quality that Bersant brings and we cannot wait to see him back in the Town colours very soon.”

Celina, the Blues' 18th senior signing of the summer, is due to join up with the Kosovo squad later this week ahead of their World Cup qualifiers away against Georgia on Friday and at home to Greece on Sunday and Spain a week on Wednesday.

Town had held protracted talks with the forward, who previously spent 2017/18 on loan at Portman Road from Manchester City, scoring eight times in 26 starts and 12 sub appearances, while a number of other clubs, understood to include Championship Hull City and Coventry City, as well as sides in the Dutch top flight, were also keen.

The chances of the move happening looked over when Celina developed the heart infection pericarditis in late July having contracted Covid a month earlier.

However, a fortnight ago his cardiologist gave the 24-year-old the all-clear to return to training in a few weeks’ time.

The Blues were initially looking at a permanent switch but ultimately a loan switch for the season has been agreed. Dijon have confirmed that the deal doesn't include an option to buy.

Kosovo-born Celina moved to Norway with his family aged two and was a youth player with Strømsgodset before joining Manchester City’s academy in 2012.

In 2016/17 he spent time with FC Twente in the Netherlands on loan, then moved to Town on the same basis the following season.

Celina left City for Swansea in the summer of 2018 for £3 million - having made one senior start and three sub appearances for the Citizens - and went on to make 65 starts and 14 sub appearances for the Swans, scoring 10 times, before being sold to Dijon for a reported £2.7 million in September 2020, signing a four-year contract.

During 2020/21, 5ft 11in tall Celina made 26 starts and seven sub appearances in all competitions for Dijon without finding the net as Les Hiboux were relegated from Ligue 1 having finished bottom.

Capped by Norway at U16, U17 and U21 levels, Celina subsequently switched allegiance to Kosovo for whom he has played U21 and senior games. He has now taken his full caps total to 29, scoring twice.

Celina could be Town's final signing of the transfer window which closes at 11pm this evening, although a further addition - probably a holding midfielder - isn't out of the question.

Armando Dobra's loan to Colchester, which TWTD revealed had been agreed yesterday, will be confirmed at some point today, while the likes of Bailey Clements could also move on on a temporary basis.

Fringe first-teamers such as Kayden Jackson and Tomas Holy could also depart if there is interest with the same the case with outcast left-back Myles Kenlock.

Photo: Matchday Images

Billysherlockblue added 11:44 - Aug 31 A great loan deal. If we get out of league one this yr there will be another overhaul of players to a lesser extent. We have a quality core now so bring it 0n. Super blues forever 💙
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Len_Brennan added 12:06 - Aug 31 Very good footballer, far too good for League 1 when fully fit & healthy. He could play in any of the 3 positions behind the centre forward, but would favour the left side, just like Edwards & Barry - the opposing right backs won't be having an easy time of it when they play Ipswich this season. A lot of people are rightly saying that we still need a defensive midfielder; as Evans, Harper & Carroll all lack that ball winning, defensive bite aspect in their game. With Edmondson likely to come in at centre half for our next game (thanks to Wycombe postponement), I wonder if Woolfenden might be an option in midfield if we are getting outfought in a game; that's assuming we're not getting Morsy or any other defensive midfielder at this stage.

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Bluearmy_81 added 12:12 - Aug 31 NSV, I've let it go! So happy we're where we are and that that whole sorry pathetic saga is behind us. Just when people start suckin up to Evans image that I have to put the record straight.
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Marcus added 12:15 - Aug 31 (Immitating the moaners) If he's not good enough for Man City, why is he... Oh, never mind. Welcome back!
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runningout added 12:25 - Aug 31 a lot of us have learned to keep excitement to a moderate level. A Morsy/Crooks type signing is essential after beginning of season
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Jugsy added 12:42 - Aug 31 Celina, great player in the Championship so will no doubt tear up League One. I do question the need for him... so many attacking players in the line-up, not sure how they build a settled and established line-up with so many for so few positions. Defensive frailties are my biggest concern, attacking options looked awesome so far so i'm a bit perplexed that we've gone ahead with it. As it's a loan, I guess it's much lower risk if it doesn't work out. But... to be moaning that we've signed too many good players is a bit rich :D so let's hoping the 'gelling' excuse hasn't just bought itself some more time.

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64Townman added 12:57 - Aug 31 It's all very well signing all of these players what about signing a decent manager who knows what to do this team this manager is absolutely rubbish he would not know how to organise a booze up in a brewery
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Barty added 13:27 - Aug 31 Fantastic news and welcome back Bersant
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NITFC added 13:33 - Aug 31 This is very exciting. I was at St Marys when England played Kosovo in 2019. England won 5-3 and it was far from straight forward Kosovo played Celina in a central role and absolutely everything went through him, He was awesome He also has a great song !!!
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Linkboy13 added 14:14 - Aug 31 Anyone who's involved in football will know that buying good players doesn't guarantee success. The games so far have been exciting to watch. At the moment we are lacking players that are prepared to do the dirty work when we haven't got the ball. Sign more players like young Coulson and we will be on the right track tremendous work rate and desire. Unfortunately at the moment we haven't got enough of that sort of player in the squad.

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dirtydingusmagee added 14:20 - Aug 31 good to get him ,but doubt he will be fully fit for a while so wouldnt get too excited ..
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Linkboy13 added 15:09 - Aug 31 The deal dosent include an option to buy. Sounds like to me he's come here to get fit which looks like a good deal for Dijon to me. We need to get this team settled soon as the chances of automatic promotion are slipping away after dropping points to mainly the weaker sides in this league.
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Vanisleblue2 added 17:51 - Aug 31 Wow - how to play all of the players? Personally I would go 4-4-2 but I know Cook won't so possibly Walton, VY, Coulson, Carroll, Burgess, Edmundson, Harper, Celina , Edwards, Fraser, Bonne Subs Pigott, Chaplin, Burns, Nsiala, Hladky, Barry, Penney
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pragmatic added 19:19 - Aug 31 Time for Cook & his coaches to step up to the level shown by Ashton !!!!!!!
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Dog added 19:35 - Aug 31 Another good signing, but as he has not trained yet, we will not be seeing him anytime soon. I do hope a medical has been carried out as pericarditis is not something you bounce back immediately - talking fitness and lung capacity. Really need the central midfielder and ship the likes of jackson, kenlock and norwood out.
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runaround added 22:03 - Aug 31 Welcome home Santi
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KernewekBlue added 22:52 - Aug 31 @timkatieadamitfc "@kernewekBlue - totally agree with your post, but you do have to give him credit for wiping debt off, now some might say it was the least he could do, but it was a hell of a lot of money so fair play." I'm sorry, but I don't have to credit Evans for anything other than dragging our club down to League One with a whimper! If anyone still needs educating on the rhyme and reason behind Evans' takeover of the club, I suggest you read and digest ALL the posts contained within the following thread, then tell me what a lovely guy Evans was for "wiping debt off", when it was a debt he himself had created chasing a quick, fat profit. Town Accounts Show Evans Waived or Settled £96m in Loans 1st Jul 2021 09:39 Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has given an assessment of Town’s accounts for the year to the end of June 2020 which were published yesterday and reveal that former owner Marcus Evans waived or settled almost £96 million in loans as part of the agreement which saw Gamechanger 20 take charge of the club in April. 56

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istanblue added 23:42 - Aug 31 Fantastic work by Ashton and the owners. Whatever happens on the pitch, the credibility they've amassed already through bringing Championship-level players to Portman Road is fantastic to see. They promised Championship-level signings, we got Championship level signings. No excuses for Cook now.
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