Town manager Joe Royle has said he wants to make Paul Gerrard's move to Portman Road a permanent one. The Everton keeper is currently two games into a one-month loan with the Blues.

Royle initially wants to increase the current arrangement to a three-month spell and says ultimately he'd be keen on keeping the former Oldham man at Town: "We'd love to, when the time comes.

"But I'm not going to say anything more than that as, at the moment, we quite honestly couldn't afford him.

"He's here for an initial month and then we'll go from there. The next month and then hopefully two more are a long time.

"As it stands, he's on an instant recall to Everton if they have a goalkeeping problem.

"But David Moyes is a great friend of mine and Bill Kenwright's very close to our chairman as well as myself."

Gerrard is third choice at Everton behind ex-Ipswich keeper Richard Wright and Steve Simonsen. Up to now Gerrard, who worked with Royle at both Everton and Oldham, has said he is not after a long-term switch, however the lure of first team football could persuade him otherwise.

So far Gerrard's Town career has gone smoothly aside from a scary moment early in Saturday's win against Coventry when he was penalised for handling outside the area which went unpenalised.

Everton are reported to have placed a £750,000 price tag on Gerrard, whose current contract is up in June 2004.

There is little doubt that in the current circumstances Royle will have to sell before he can buy. An extension to the loan period suggests that the Town boss may be planning to sell during the January transfer window despite David Sheepshanks saying the club does not need to sell over the winter.

Who Royle might consider selling looks likely to become the subject of much specualtion over the next few weeks.

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