Brighton and Hove Albion have upped the pressure on Town regarding keeper Christian Walton by activating the recall clause in his season-loan deal, meaning that the 26-year-old could return to the Amex Stadium next week.

The season-long agreement reached by the Blues and Seagulls in the summer allowed the Premier League side to bring Walton back in January but with seven days’ notice, an option they utilised this morning.

That means that Walton currently remains at Portman Road and will be available for Saturday’s game at Bolton.

Town and Brighton have been in talks regarding the Wadebridge-born glovesman’s future since before the transfer window opened.

The Sussex club’s latest move appears to be designed to put pressure on the Blues to get a deal done sooner rather than later, while they are also likely to be courting interest from elsewhere having looked to move the former Plymouth youngster to a Championship side in the summer.

Walton is out of contract in the summer when he would be able to leave on a free transfer. January represents the Seagull's last chance to achieve a fee for a player who joined them in 2013.

"Even if no agreement is reached over the next week, Walton could always return to Portman Road at a later stage during January if the clubs are subsequently able to do a deal and he hasn't joined another side.

Walton has been one of Town's best performers since joining in August.

When asked about his future following the FA Cup replay defeat to Barrow, he was unable to comment but said he was happy at Portman Road.

“I think that sort of thing is best left to the hierarchy within the clubs,” he said. “I’ve nothing to say on that at the minute because I don’t really know my situation. All I do know is that I’m playing for Ipswich Town and I’m really enjoying my football here.

“I think my form’s been good but I don’t think that’s for me to talk about at this moment, after a 2-0 defeat at Barrow.

“As long as I can keep doing as much as I can for the team within games then hopefully it spirals and has a knock-on effect throughout the team.

“I will always want to be doing better and will continue to work hard and apply myself. This is a great football club to be playing for and I love playing for the club.

“This is a massive football club and any player within the divisions would want to come and play for Ipswich.

“You’ve seen the players that we’ve recruited in the summer from higher divisions and you can see from the support that we get how good the club is. I’m really enjoying my time here.”

Walton is believed to have a strong relationship with new goalkeeper-coach Rene Gilmartin, the pair having been at Plymouth together early in his career.

Photo: Matchday Images

SamWhiteUK added 14:21 - Jan 10 B@stards
-5

hoppy added 14:22 - Jan 10 Let's hope something is sorted before it gets messy. Would be great if he were to become a permanent Town player with us all the way to the Premier league...
19

OwainG1992 added 14:23 - Jan 10 Well then Mr Ashton. It's over to you now. The play who is quite clearly championship standard seems to want to be here. The fans want him. His team mates want him. Let's get it done.
19

NorthLondonBlue2 added 14:24 - Jan 10 Fair enough, really. Brighton lose everything if the position isn't sorted this month. He won't be cheap but will definitely be worth it.
17

dubblue added 14:33 - Jan 10 Understandable tbh. Let's hope a deal can be done soon. We want to maintain our recent momentum. We need to agree a fee with Brighton and CW's salary - I assume this will be less than what he is on now.
4

blues1 added 14:40 - Jan 10 Like everyone I'd like us to sign him up. Unfortunately, the issue is, we would probably have to move someone out before being in a position to pay his wages due to the % limit on wages. Even with the fact he'll have to take a pay cut.
1

Stato added 14:43 - Jan 10 Good game of poker from 2 honourable clubs who have competing commercial views on this but obviously in the end a deal suits all 3 parties and Ashton will get this done.
5

Bert added 14:53 - Jan 10 We would do exactly the same in Brighton's position. Will the valuation be something both clubs can agree upon and will Walton accept a wage lower than what he could get in the Championship ? Not an easy one for any of the parties.
8

KernewekBlue added 14:56 - Jan 10 He's performed well for us, much better than Hladky or Holy, so it should be a no-brainer to get this bit of business done. Surely Holy is surplus to requirements now and could be offered up for transfer to offset a little of what this deal might cost. We'd stand a greater chance of pushing on this season (and next) if we keep our top performers in the side and let go the make-weights. If Brighton want to sell him and he enjoys being here, push this over the line before he gets snapped up by someone else and we lose the best keeper we've had in ages.

4

hadleighboyblue added 14:58 - Jan 10 Really hope this can be done , but' it's wages that might be the problem
3

tractorboybig added 15:02 - Jan 10 dont be held to ransome...
0

Ebantiass added 15:08 - Jan 10 Must echo the above statements ,light years better than the other two with all respect and commands the area well. Even under Cook he was a stand out performer as we can all remember. Would love to see this done but you couldn't begrudge him for wanting to play at a higher level and with better wages. For me its a must but i dont pay the wages.
1

meekreech added 15:14 - Jan 10 Finance could be generated by moving out some of the players who are not going to benefit us going forward. To my mind the most obvious of these are Nolan , Jackson and Nsiala . Unfortunately Nsiala is , on past performances, not going to be able to push out any of the current back three as he has not the skill set required. Nolan has been a drag on the team since his arrival as he has never produced anything worthwhile as well as spending so much time on the injured list. Jackson will not have the same output as Pigott, Norwood or Bonne with Simpson coming back next year to supplement them.

8

1psw1ch added 15:14 - Jan 10 Come on town,,, make the offer along with bonne and let's build a team to take us forward,,, coyb
2

BlueBlood90 added 15:17 - Jan 10 Extremely harsh on Walton who appears to have been nothing but professional for Brighton over the years despite a lack of ever being given game time there. It's obvious that he's just a number to them and they don't particularly care about the person if they are willing to recall him from being a no.1 at a club where he's happy to being number 3 back at Brighton. I really, really hope we can sign him permanently as I believe he's the best goalkeeper we've had since Bart by some distance and has significant potential to get better and grow his value if we ever wanted to sell him.

9

Europablue added 15:19 - Jan 10 NorthLondonBlue2 I don't know how much Walton could be worth with 6 months left on his contract 500k? We can certainly afford the transfer fee, but the wages might be a stumbling block. Maybe they can structure the deal so that he gets a decent bonus on promotion or if there is a certain level of attendance at home games?
2

BildestonBlue added 15:34 - Jan 10 I, like most fans hope that we can conclude this deal ASAP, I do however also hope we are assessing other options available to us instead of putting all of our eggs in one basket. If it doesn't happen then I hope we are able to get behind Hladky, as underwhelming as he's been he cant have become an awful keeper over night.
4

johnwarksshorts added 15:38 - Jan 10 Let's see how ambitious our owners are. Hope they can get a deal done.
1

Edmundo added 15:44 - Jan 10 Need to ship out two to get this number 1 in, most likely. We may lose him after Bolton, but only for a week or so.
1

TB42 added 15:47 - Jan 10 Sadly, one of the risks of getting loan players in, especially in a situation like this that we would have been aware of before we got him in. Great goalkeeper but fear we may lose him and you can't blame Brighton for wanting to realise a fee for him when, at the end of the season, they would get nothing!!
3

IpswichT62OldBoy added 15:55 - Jan 10 We have tried him and like him, he fits us well so I hope it works out. Good business is good for all parties involved, this looks like good business
1

dirtydingusmagee added 16:20 - Jan 10 We'd have been same so cant knock Brighton , JohnWarksshorts , thats a bit harsh , The owners have shown they clearly are ambitious, there is a limit for everyone and everything .
4

maninashed added 16:31 - Jan 10 If Walton wants to come to Ipswich he just has to refuse to move to any other club, which he is entitled to do. The wages problem is a possible difficulty, but can't that be solved with an appropriate signing on fee?
1

Karlosfandangal added 16:31 - Jan 10 Town might offer a bigger salary on Promotion. I can only see him signing for a Championship club if they have a chance of promotion Town are a club that have ambitious owners so it might be a big sway plus we have a goalkeeping coach who he knows Lot going in Towns favour
2

bringmeaKuqi added 16:41 - Jan 10 If we do lose him just for a game or two while we get a deal done, I will be interested to see Hladky under new management. Everyone else has stepped up in the two games — perhaps he can too and show us why we signed him. He does have good attributes, so there might be a good player in there we've not yet seen.
4

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