Blues target Jaden Philogene is at Portman Road undergoing his medical ahead of his £20 million plus add-ons move to Town from Aston Villa.

The deal to sign the 22-year-old was agreed last night with the player set to sign a four-and-a-half-year contract. A formal announcement is expected later today once the medical is completed.

Philogene has long been a Town target with links first surfacing in the summer of 2023 before the England U21 international moved from Aston Villa to Hull City.

In July last year, the Blues had agreed a joint-deal with the Tigers for the forward and teammate Jacob Greaves with the Philogene side of the proposed move understood to be worth £18 million and the player having agreed personal terms at Portman Road.

However, his former club Villa had 72 hours within which to exercise matching rights as part of the deal they had agreed with the Tigers the previous summer, which they did and Philogene returned to Villa Park for £13 million - the Midlanders also taking advantage of their 30 per cent sell-on - with the forward signing a five-year contract.

But Philogene made only three starts - two in the Premier League - and 11 sub appearances for Villa in the first half of the season and speculation regarding a swift exit began to surface before the January window opened.

Town and Everton, another of the clubs interested in the summer, both made approaches with the Blues ultimately stealing a march on the Toffeemen.

The Londoner reportedly agreed to sign for the Blues following a personal phone call with manager Kieran McKenna.

The Blues have been in the market for a number of forwards this window with a centre-forward a priority and two players for the roles behind on the list.

Earlier in the week, Town were reported to be readying a deal worth £30 million for 23-year-old Brazilian striker Igor Jesus, who is currently with Botafogo in his home country, however, that’s believed to be overstating the interest as it stands.

We understand Jesus is a player Town have known about for some while and like - as is the case with a number of Premier League clubs with Arsenal, Fulham and Brentford also having been linked - but is currently one on a list with the Blues monitoring the situation.

On Friday, Liverpool rebuffed a £16 million offer for Scotland international forward Ben Doak, who is currently on loan at Middlesbrough, with Crystal Palace also having made a bid.

We understand the Blues are maintaining their pursuit of the 19-year-old with the Eagles similarly continuing their interest and the Reds said to want a fee between £25 and £30 million.

Photo: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images via Reuters Connect

Gforce added 22:26 - Jan 9 According to Sky sports he has completed his medical, so all the rest should follow shortly.
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blueboy1981 added 22:36 - Jan 9 ….. to you who marked down my post - cast you eye to Plymouth, Luton, Peterboro’ to name but three of others, who have seen serious downturns after upturn seasons ! Anyone who thinks taking one step back (relegation) to come back stronger, is talking from the posterior, in other words bullsh#t, and living on hope. Shake your Heads !!
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Leejames99 added 23:13 - Jan 9 Blueboy1981 First of all there is no need for your tone or rudeness to felllow Ipswich Town supporters and using capitals etc it's simply just not okay to use that language on a family club forum like this and is not what Ipswich Town represents as a club. The 3 teams you mention do not have the ownership that we do and have been surviving on having to sell players, Peterborough especially. We are completely different to Luton, they did not expect to go up, struggled to get ground ready and couldn't recruit great but did give a good account of themselves and tried but was a stepping stone for Barkley, we took Ogbene etc. Since league one we have kept the same team in place whom were good players for the league we were in ie Chaplin, Burns etc better than league 1 and then Omari, Sarrimento etc good for Championship and Chaplin, Morsy etc comfortable there and now we are in Prem we are evolving again and signing the best of championship with most potential, sell on potential, and fit the mould. Whilst relegation wouldn't be great the club ate not naieve enough to know its not impossible to go down, its Premier League. We haven't and won't sack manager like every club aside Palace down bottom have because we have a structure and plan in place. As a Town fan to think relegation would mean back to lower league's is unfathomable 3 teams have to go down so we have contingency and a squad for that. Nothing is guaranteed in football ask Man Utd. We are in an even bigger mini league now with Southampton, Leicester, West Ham, Wolves, Everton, Palace and even Man Utd and they all in transition for all sorts reasons while we are building momentum, found a system that works and adding to our team. Please remember this forum is for debate, opinions, philosophy, suggestions and everyone will be different and that's the great thing but we all have one thing in common our love of Ipswich Town and so we should enjoy the good times, debate bad times but do it with dignity and respect to each other, the club, the players and staff of our beloved club COYB

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Leejames99 added 23:13 - Jan 9 Blueboy1981 First of all there is no need for your tone or rudeness to felllow Ipswich Town supporters and using capitals etc it's simply just not okay to use that language on a family club forum like this and is not what Ipswich Town represents as a club. The 3 teams you mention do not have the ownership that we do and have been surviving on having to sell players, Peterborough especially. We are completely different to Luton, they did not expect to go up, struggled to get ground ready and couldn't recruit great but did give a good account of themselves and tried but was a stepping stone for Barkley, we took Ogbene etc. Since league one we have kept the same team in place whom were good players for the league we were in ie Chaplin, Burns etc better than league 1 and then Omari, Sarrimento etc good for Championship and Chaplin, Morsy etc comfortable there and now we are in Prem we are evolving again and signing the best of championship with most potential, sell on potential, and fit the mould. Whilst relegation wouldn't be great the club ate not naieve enough to know its not impossible to go down, its Premier League. We haven't and won't sack manager like every club aside Palace down bottom have because we have a structure and plan in place. As a Town fan to think relegation would mean back to lower league's is unfathomable 3 teams have to go down so we have contingency and a squad for that. Nothing is guaranteed in football ask Man Utd. We are in an even bigger mini league now with Southampton, Leicester, West Ham, Wolves, Everton, Palace and even Man Utd and they all in transition for all sorts reasons while we are building momentum, found a system that works and adding to our team. Please remember this forum is for debate, opinions, philosophy, suggestions and everyone will be different and that's the great thing but we all have one thing in common our love of Ipswich Town and so we should enjoy the good times, debate bad times but do it with dignity and respect to each other, the club, the players and staff of our beloved club COYB

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Dissboyitfc added 07:35 - Jan 10 Leejames i think your evaluation on some of our players is well off, Chaplin for 10 mil, we paid less than that for smodizcs and bear in mind that we were a premier league team so have to pay inflated prices anyway, no championship team will pay those prices, they are saleable assets for sure but those i believe are wishful thinking! And should we go down, we will lose some of our big guns, the club looks to me like they are taking a calculated risk and whatever division we are in next year our cloth will be cut accordingly! Most players improve in value under KM. But i said at the start of the season 17th is where we will finish and still believe that! So sad that we are in fantastic period of growth yet some just cant enjoy and want to attack those who are enjoying this period. Football is similar to life its not about the destination but the journey, i for one am taking in the scenery and loving it, there will be tunnels and it will be dark but they will be short lived, not like the Evans years where we only had the dark lord and a succesion of tunnels! One day this upward trajectory will slow down and maybe even go down, nothing lasts for ever look at Man City or Man Utd, we will look back and say those were the days! So for now know these are the days and enjoy! To quote Mark Twain, " no amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"

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Leejames99 added 08:24 - Jan 10 Great response @churchmans. I just got those prices from what Premier League values them, 10 mill was the highest end. Whatever we get for them should they be sold be a profit. I think we will stay up also.
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Dissboyitfc added 09:33 - Jan 10 Do you mean dissboy ?
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BobbyBell added 09:43 - Jan 10 I think one or two on here are forgetting who our owners are. They are investors, they run pension funds. As with any investors they have bought stock they they believe will increase in value and over the last 2 years that value has increased massively, The stadium, the training ground, merchandising etc is all growing and improving. The squad is being built on younger players with potential and just think what our squad is worth compared with the money we paid out. We also took a promising young coach and he is now a very sought after and respected manager. Like all investments this is long term and the owners will not back out at the first hint of a downturn. Becoming an established Premier league club takes time and if at our first attempt we drop back down then we will return because of how this club is run. There will be no panic as after all we got here faster than most expected anyway. MA has already said that much more investment is there for us and we have many more plans in the pipeline. Remember when Man City we in league 1?

4

blueboy1981 added 09:49 - Jan 10 Not convinced - but who knows ? Not exactly set the Prem’ alight as yet has he ? - a £20million gamble that could harm McK, this one. But of course, in the eyes of some, every player we ever sign is World Class, at least at that point. What it does prove to me is - the Owners bought this Club to stay in the Premiership, not for Relegation !!
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Alphawhiskey added 10:16 - Jan 10 I think they are still on the phone trying to get an NHS Doctor for the medical. " you are number 2354 in the queue, please continue to hold "
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HopefulBlue69 added 10:35 - Jan 10 This delay in announcing it does make me slightly nervous.. just hope the talk earlier about a dodgy agent isn't coming true....
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Alphawhiskey added 10:39 - Jan 10 Done deal....
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Dissboyitfc added 11:07 - Jan 10 And how do we compare to Luton Plymouth or Peterborough? We are a totally different animal. Hardly invested did they!
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superblues9 added 11:22 - Jan 10 Long medical !
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Dissboyitfc added 11:36 - Jan 10 I wonder could it be his agent has said Everton might be a better bet let’s stall things and wait to see if the new manager offers you something? Just a guess of course but all a bit dejavuey!
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Linkboy13 added 12:30 - Jan 10 Hope im wrong but he might be too lightweight for the Premier league. I always keep my firmly on the ground when we make a signing probably because having been in the game i see things differently .
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Dissboyitfc added 13:36 - Jan 10 Explain Linkboy, you have been in the game and how do you see things differently? I remember Ulrich Le Pen coming on for five minutes and getting a career ending injury! All signings can be a gamble and many reasons why they might not work out!
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RobITFC added 14:18 - Jan 10 Sky reported all done over 2 hours ago
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WinchBlue added 14:38 - Jan 10 Not proven at this level.... what a waste of money...... massive gamble..... rip-off..... I seem to remember these comments coming out at the end of Summer about Liam Delap!
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Linkboy13 added 17:32 - Jan 10 Yes spot on TimmyH unfortunately some on here are in the land of the fairies and if we signed the local postman they would be getting excited.
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Dissboyitfc added 09:24 - Jan 11 Linkboy instead of marking me down for asking you a genuine question, answer it! why do you feel you have a greater insight? Did you run an under 11's team or Sunday morning team? its not the same!
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Dissboyitfc added 09:24 - Jan 11 Linkboy instead of marking me down for asking you a genuine question, answer it! why do you feel you have a greater insight? Did you run an under 11's team or Sunday morning team? its not the same!
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