Blues target Jaden Philogene now reportedly looks unlikely to join Barcelona, but Town still face competition from other Premier League clubs for the 22-year-old’s signature.

Yesterday, it emerged that the Blues had made a double offer to Hull City for winger Philogene and centre-half Jacob Greaves understood to be worth £35 million plus add-ons.

However, La Liga giants Barca had previously been credited with interest in Philogene, who was also looked at by Town last summer before he joined the Tigers from Aston Villa in a £5 million switch.

Now, according to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, the potential move to the Catalan club looks unlikely due to complications and with the player preferring a move to the Premier League.

In addition to Town’s offer, Crystal Palace and Everton have all made approaches. West Ham United were previously understood to be keen.

Prior to the news of the Blues’ offer, Hull owner Acun Ilicali said he wouldn’t stand in the way of players who wanted to move on.

“Of course, if you ask me, I told my fans that I would sell nobody. My idea in football is not to make money, my idea is to make a strong and bigger club,” he told talkSPORT.

“But to make a bigger club, sometimes if a player says I want to go, that's a different case. For me, if one player changes, it's not the end of the road.

“But if any of my players, I will never want to ruin their career or their mood because by pushing them because there is a contract. If Jaden wants to move and says he wants to go somewhere, this is something we cannot do too much because this is his life.

“I love all of my boys. For me, their life and career, I am responsible too. If they don't want to play with us, they don't want to play with us.”

Photo: Sipa USA

ruds added 10:00 - Jul 4 Today, I vote for a spot in the Ipswich squad. Can we dare to believe? In KMc I think we have a real live chance of getting this over the Premier line!
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JewellintheTown added 10:21 - Jul 4 Will be interesting to see what Philogene's personal priorities are & how much more a double move makes it more complex than a single. I suspect we're more of a gamble than Everton and Palace in many ways, but more exciting a prospect and more similar to Hull / Villa than the other two in many ways too. He'll get first team football with all 3 I'm guessing & wages / offers will be similar with all 3. We dont have the fancy new stadium & possibly Kudos like Everton but minor point but we do have the best supportive fan base. Managers might swing it, as would our players and how MA & KM sell our vision to him. Double move might be helpful for us if Greaves is up for a move here too & gets on well with Philogene. Exciting to be in the race though as in the past we'd not even be at the starting blocks.

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ArnieM added 10:24 - Jul 4 I guess, it'll be down to what motivates him. Money , or career progression and game time. Hopefully Town's rising stock and a brilliant manager and coaching staff will persuade him to come her . Fingers crossed.
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Monkey_Blue added 10:33 - Jul 4 Trying not to look at this through blue tinted glasses because there are valid arguments to not sign for us.. however on the plus side, he’s more than likely seen what McK has done for Hutchinson and how he was happy to sign for us from Chelsea, which is certainly a show of faith bigger than is needed to sign for us from Hull City. He’s also likely to have less problems becoming a regular. All of those other premiership clubs have been there a long while and will have much deeper squads. It might also help if Greaves decides we are the right move.. no idea if they are best mates but certainly having a very familiar face to move from Hull to picturesque Suffolk with can’t be a negative. I’d love us to sign the two of them.. young players with plenty of ceiling.. but let’s not forget as is the case with Hutchinson.. not premier league proven yet.

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fifeblue added 10:46 - Jul 4 I think the issue of 'premier leaguye proven' is irrelevant. The Town team of 2001 had no premier league proven players and finished 5th because of the cohesive nature of the team and management at the time. There is something of a parallel with the current squad and management. Ipswich Town should not be underestimated in the Premier League next season.
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Bazza8564 added 12:48 - Jul 4 I would argue that if Kieran and Mark can't sell him on Ipswich, no-one can and we should accept it and move on..............But I wouldn.t mind having a bet they do!
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 15:56 - Jul 4 We have Kieran and Mark Ashton; the others don't. That's quite a plus for us. I trust them to put forward a persuasive proposal. Hope we can get this deal over the line.
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Monkey_Blue added 20:12 - Jul 4 fifeblue.. I know we didn’t sign lots of proven talent in 2000/2001. To assume that’s always going to work is a little bit like people who wear lucky underpants to games… sure it worked before but isn’t the reason we won. I wasn’t deriding either of them or Omari, simply saying that it’s football and there are no guarantees in football. As it happens I’m excited about our transfer business and have a feeling we won’t struggle.. but you can’t bank on history repeating itself or “feelings”.

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