Former Blues loanee Bersant Celina has signed on loan with Turkish side Kasımpaşa, TWTD understands, ending a lengthy summer transfer saga.

TWTD revealed this morning that Celina was travelling to Istanbul today to complete the switch to the Süper Lig side, a season-long loan from parent club Dijon with an option to buy, a fortnight after making the same trip and deciding not to make the move to the club whose average attendance last season was 2,451.

Town had been in talks with Celina regarding his return to Portman Road for a third spell - also a loan with a view to a permanent switch - for much of the summer with the player understood to be keen on a return but with no agreement on terms ever reached.

We understand no further discussions took place between the Blues and Celina following the 25-year-old’s previous trip to Istanbul.

As revealed last month, Stoke looked to be Celina’s destination until his work permit situation caused the proposed switch to collapse.

In addition to Kasımpaşa, another Turkish club Antalyaspor also held talks and earlier in the summer Preston were keen but their interest is understood to have cooled and would anyway have been impacted by the work permit issue.

Latterly, Rangers were believed to have been interested with Scottish clubs subject to an exemption regarding the work permit situation, but that ultimately came to nothing.

Fans' favourite Celina spent last season on loan at Town, scoring six times in 24 starts and 11 sub appearances, having previously been with the Blues during 2017/18 while a Manchester City player.

Photo: Matchday Images

blues1 added 08:18 - Aug 2 Smithy63. 1. Yes we still need another striker. But2 how many of those attempts we had at half were by the strikers? They csnt score unless they get given the opportunities. Which didn't come there way on Saturday. Its one game. Wonder if the man city fans are suggesting haaland can't score after he failed to score on saturday? Ladapo only played half of last season and scored 15 Given the chances, he'll score a hatful this season. But as u say, we still need one more to help and take the pressure off him too.

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Michael101 added 08:35 - Aug 2 Maybe you can't get a decent kebab in ipswich??
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tractorboybig added 08:45 - Aug 2 so what, dont need him who cares?
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andysteed007 added 09:13 - Aug 2 Personally I am pleased we haven't signed him . Having 10 good performances a season is not what we need to get out of this but league
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Powrigan added 09:50 - Aug 2 Finally, if that is his level of ambition, we can do without.
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mutters added 10:39 - Aug 2 Hahaaha now people don't like/rate him because he's chosen a different career path away from ITFC. Brilliant
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grumpyoldman added 11:07 - Aug 2 Mutters, no a lot can see that he is player who does outstanding things once in a blue moon, occasionally does well but often does not impose himself enough. In other words a luxury player we can do without, if KM had really wanted him he would have been here a few weeks ago.
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blues1 added 11:30 - Aug 2 Beattiesballbag. Clearly we couldn't pay more of hos wages or he wouldnt have gone there. No1 should be suggesting it was him who wanted too much as he had no say in that. Was totally down to the negotiations between the clubs. Seems cleqrcthst dijon wanted us to pay much more of his wages this time. An amount we couldn't go to bcse of the limit on wages here. Maybe we could have gone higher, but that would likely mean us not being able to sign another striker. Question to fans on here is, what do we need most? For me, its clearly another striker, else there's gonna be too much pressure on ladapo. I'm certain he's gonna score a lot of goals for us but unless there's another striker here to take some of the load, it could be detrimental to him.

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reva added 12:52 - Aug 2 Forget it - he's gone to Turkey and at the end of the day His club had a major say in it - I'd like to see us bring back Boone who I think would do an amazing job this season - and who would also fit the system MK plays - yes we all want to see goals but Boone and Ladapo would do it for us. I know we all want the 20 goal striker but remember we have one out on loan to Portsmouth - he maybe didn't do it for us because of the system we play. We have JJ and Ladapo now and now that Boone has got over some of His personal stuff he'd be in a better place to fully focus on what we know he can do - score goals.

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mutters added 12:58 - Aug 2 @grumpyoldman no I am with you completely. as much as I like him he is not what we need in this league.
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MickMillsTash added 13:00 - Aug 2 was the choice Top Flight football in Turkey or Division 3 football in England ?
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Karlosfandangal added 14:00 - Aug 2 Have always felt that Chaplin is a better bet with goal return and assist
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Gforce added 14:28 - Aug 2 Reva.......Who is Boon ? I thought he used to ride a motorbike in the 80s 😀 Sorry only over 40s will get that !
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Northstandveteran added 14:39 - Aug 2 No Gforce. Pat's a 50's American singer. He's flying over this week to fix the p.a system.
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budgieplucker added 15:13 - Aug 2 There is no doubting Santi's exceptional skills and the odd spectacular goal that he is often capable of, but his overall return on goals and assists last year probably no where near justifies what we would have to pay for having him for a season. With his pedigree he should be capable of having a similar effect on Division 1 as De Bruyne has on the premiership!!! I agree with others though that he might actually be more suited to the Championship. I do have some doubts about Harness though, however, his record for last season speaks for itself and pound for pound he appears to be much better value than Celina. Time will tell, and best to save our resources for another decent striker.

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budgieplucker added 15:13 - Aug 2 There is no doubting Santi's exceptional skills and the odd spectacular goal that he is often capable of, but his overall return on goals and assists last year probably no where near justifies what we would have to pay for having him for a season. With his pedigree he should be capable of having a similar effect on Division 1 as De Bruyne has on the premiership!!! I agree with others though that he might actually be more suited to the Championship. I do have some doubts about Harness though, however, his record for last season speaks for itself and pound for pound he appears to be much better value than Celina. Time will tell, and best to save our resources for another decent striker.

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itfcnath added 15:14 - Aug 2 People think it was Celinas choice, he was actually told he was going to sign for us but we actually pulled out, not Celina, and he got annoyed because apparantly we said to him we would sign him, awful decision from us and we went and signed Harness for 750k.. who looks no where near the same player
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jas0999 added 18:01 - Aug 2 Thank goodness this one has been resolved. Can move on to other targets, I'd indeed needed. We have options. A striker remains a must.
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RobsonWark added 20:19 - Aug 2 Thank god for that!! I'm fed up of hearing about someone who had no interest in signing for us.
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