TWTD understands Derby County midfielder Jason Knight is one of a number of central midfielders on Town’s radar, the Blues having ended their lengthy pursuit of Peterborough United’s Jack Taylor.

Taylor, 24, who had interested Town since last summer, was the subject of several bids during January, the last close to £2 million, and the Blues revisited the situation again at the start of this summer.

However, we understand the club has now ended its interest in the Republic of Ireland call-up and is actively looking at other potential central midfield recruits, including Knight, who was linked by the Daily Mail among other sources overnight.

Knight, 22, joined the Rams’ academy from hometown club Cabinteely in 2017 and progressed into the first team, making his debut at the start of 2019/20. He has now made 136 starts and 30 sub appearances, scoring 14 times.

Capped 20 times by the Republic of Ireland, scoring once, Knight is understood to have been the subject of two offers from Bristol City this summer, the second £1.5 million, and the Robins are believed to be considering another bid. Stoke City have also been linked.

Ireland boss Stephen Kenny believes Knight should be playing at a higher level than League One and recently said the midfielder was on the “on the verge of” a move away from the Rams, a comment which was dismissed as “inaccurate” by his club.

Speaking after Ireland’s 3-0 victory over Gibraltar on Monday, in which he was named man of the match, Knight said he was aware of what had been said.

“Yeah, I heard those comments, but I have a year left on my contract,” he told Independent.ie.

“I'm an ambitious person and I want to play at the highest level I can at club and international level.

“But Derby is a great club and there are a lot of great people at the club. I think there are foundations being built again to make it go up the levels. There are good times ahead at Derby, the club is in a good place now.

“It’s a fine line and I will have to assess everything in the summer. I will get away for a couple of weeks and shut my mind off and make the decision in the pre-season.”

Photo: SIPA-USA

earlsgreenblue added 10:33 - Jun 21 Good, Taylor might have been useful but dealings with the Posh have rarely been good for us?
17

Europablue added 10:36 - Jun 21 I would go as far as saying that we shouldn't do business with Posh. If they don't keep their mouths shut, then they are not trustworthy and are just messing us about.
13

TractorfactorSteve added 10:39 - Jun 21 Yeah, we all automatically turn to the Daily Mail for the truth.
6

the_toff added 10:50 - Jun 21 We've left Peterborough for dead, we can barely see them in our rear view mirror anymore. I don't really like their owner or how they go about their business, I'm quite happy for us to move on from Taylor. They're the ones that need the money and now have an asset who only has a year left on his contract. Should've taken the £2m in January. Oh well.
9

Gforce added 10:57 - Jun 21 Hope there is some truth to this one.Knight would be a quality acquisition,whenever I've seen him,he works his socks off,a very consistent performer. I'd certainly prefer him,over Taylor.
5

BotesdaleBlue added 11:01 - Jun 21 I could easily imagine that Posh are one of the most difficult clubs to do business with, as they automatically believe their saleable players are worth millions, or in any event, much more than they really are. The fact that they are a third tier club, seems to make no difference to their valuations one iota. On top of that, they seem to have what I can only describe as a near compulsive obsession with ITFC and seem unable to stop talking about us, or our transfer targets. This has been going on for a number of years and I've lost count now of the number of time McA or Fry have gobbed off publically about us generally, or laterly, our persuit of Taylor.

7

runningout added 11:22 - Jun 21 can see it from a Peterborough view and it's not them messing about. One thing Ipswich followers should not EVER be doing, is flattering ourselves
-8

barrystedmunds added 11:24 - Jun 21 The lad clearly has something about him that KMcK admires if the story of our pursuit of him is true. But we can't be held to ransom by some jumped up owner. They need to be careful though; Taylor will have ambitions and if he feels he's pawn in a power struggle he may well throw his teddy out the pram.
1

jon_talbot56 added 11:35 - Jun 21 Remember they sold Ivan Toney for £6m so l can understand their attitude. Problem for them is going too far the way. If we want Knight it's going to be a wages issue- what we can offer compared with other clubs
0

Marcus added 12:04 - Jun 21 The key problems with Fry's arrogant approach to retaining players are players unsettling the squad by being refused the opportunity to progress and potential signings being less likely to join for exactly the same reason. It's probably for the best to focus our approaches elsewhere.
1

Jugsy added 12:07 - Jun 21 Agree with Europablue. Plenty of fish in the sea and our midfield isn't impoverished. No need to be held to ransom or annoying media tactics.
1

emergencylime added 12:07 - Jun 21 I watched Knight in the Ireland game on Monday, he seemed to be playing a Burns type role. Did lots of running, always trying to get the ball and got some good crosses in. He got MOTM too.
0

emergencylime added 12:09 - Jun 21 Haha i missed the MOTM line, sorry Phil
0

ArnieM added 12:13 - Jun 21 The best but about this article are the words “ have ended their interest in Taylor “ 👍Posh are a complete waste of space and a tin pot outfit . I feel sorry for their players being messed about by their club tbh. Posh can rip someone else off now . Sod em
4

Steelmonkey added 14:26 - Jun 21 Peterborough have always been a selling club, destined to stay where are with the owners they have. The only thing I envy about them is that they have such a knack of finding young talent.
0

Linkboy13 added 17:43 - Jun 21 Yes i agree with the player Derby is a very good club and it would take a very good offer to tempt him to leave . Hope im wrong because he is a good player and only 22 but i think Derby will offer him a new improved contract and he will probably stay put for the time being.
0

Len_Brennan added 20:49 - Jun 21 Knight is a good player, who has already played 3 seasons, and over 100 games, in the Championship. He even captained them there under Rooney (I think), despite still only being 22. So he no doubt felt he owed the club by staying with them last season after relegation, but will want to move back to the Championship this year, particularly with the ROI's manager saying he'll need to. He may not be exactly what McKenna wants, as he is different to Taylor, but he certainly fits the profile of the quality young player who could be worth multiples of what we might pay for him, in a year or two. He would be an excellent signing if we could get him for under £2m & we know that he'll have no difficulty stepping up to the Championship. His wages might be an issue though. Derby were a top paying Championship side when he joined them & he surely got an improved contract given the amount of games he played in the Championship for them.

1

Irishblueboy99 added 20:58 - Jun 21 Knight a much better player than Taylor, whether we get him or not, let fry and posh piss off
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SussexTractor added 14:34 - Jun 22 Didn't we buy another player called Taylor from Peterborough, a few years ago ? He turned out to be a dud. They do like to talk up average players 🤪
0

superdicksy added 14:33 - Jun 24 This boy is quality I live in Derby originally from Ipswich seen him play a couple of times class on the ball have friends here who are season ticket holders at derby class
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