Town’s protracted deal to sign Aston Villa forward Jaden Philogene has moved a step closer to completion with the Midlanders having confirmed the signing of Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen and with the player having been pictured in Suffolk.

Earlier today, Villa boss Unai Emery indicated that finalising the Malen deal was dependent on Philogene’s departure to the Blues going through.

Villa are understood to be paying the Bundesliga club £20 million for Dutch international Malen.

Town and the Villans agreed a £20 million-plus-add-ons fee for long-time Blues target Philogene last Wednesday with the 22-year-old agreeing a four-and-a-half-year deal and passing a medical.

However, the deal had stalled with some details relating to the switch remaining unsettled, but with the expectation that it would eventually get done.

Malen’s signing having been confirmed would appear to suggest that those aspects of the move have now been completed and Town an announcement is finally close.

Separately, there are Philogene appears to have been pictured at Milsoms, Kesgrave this evening.

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 before Town made their move.

Photo: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images via Reuters Connect

terryf added 21:21 - Jan 14 Emery's comments were misleading. Should have said that the deal for Philogene was dependent upon Villa landing Malen. Not the other way round. It doesn't take a genius therefore to work out if terms have been agreed and he's been enjoying a meal in Kesgrave he'll be onboard with Town tomorrow. Don't panic Mr Mainwaring!
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blueboy1981 added 21:33 - Jan 14 IF he eventually signs, he has much to prove for £20million - and so has the Club’s judgement on this one ! Let’s hope if it eventually goes through we don’t have another similar expensive Muric situation on our books. Circa £32million for two players is not peanuts for us as a Club, even with our current Owners. Fingers crossed whatever !
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ImAbeliever added 21:53 - Jan 14 I (don’t) believe it, yet.
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BeattiesBackPocket added 22:14 - Jan 14 Ldnj what stats you talking about? If it’s his prem record then go check Delaps as well before he came to us
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Steelmonkey added 22:16 - Jan 14 So Villa paying £20m for a Dutch international and we are paying more for an unproven youngster, is that good business?
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pablo123 added 22:25 - Jan 14 Doak next plz
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Dissboyitfc added 07:40 - Jan 15 Always a good sign if Blueboy is pouring doubt on it! Who took that photo, looks mocked up to me.
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ipswichone added 07:46 - Jan 15 This player must be very important for the club.the price is in the pudding.
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rodthergasman added 07:59 - Jan 15 Let's hope he lives up to all the hype. The manager thinks he will be a good addition to the team ,so we live in hope
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itfc2024 added 09:22 - Jan 15 and still we wait for him to sign how much longer will this saga go on
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whosroundisitanyway added 09:27 - Jan 15 But what is Mikel Arteta doing in Milsoms with him ???
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ChrisFelix added 09:28 - Jan 15 Something doesn't add up. Medical last Thursday, we play an important league game tomorrow, where surely he is needed. What is the deadline for him to play against Brighton
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itfc2024 added 09:49 - Jan 15 chrisfelix I think it's lunchtime today but could be wrong but this saga is now getting stupid the philogene saga part 2 taking well over a week to sign when he agreed his contract and passed a medical last Thursday if he ain't signed today pull the plug and move on
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itfc2024 added 09:49 - Jan 15 chrisfelix I think it's lunchtime today but could be wrong but this saga is now getting stupid the philogene saga part 2 taking well over a week to sign when he agreed his contract and passed a medical last Thursday if he ain't signed today pull the plug and move on
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planetblue_2011 added 09:52 - Jan 15 He looks grumpy to me in every picture I see of him. Hope when he eventually signs we might cheer him up a bit.
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Alphawhiskey added 09:58 - Jan 15 Have a feeling it will be announced later today. I like this lad, people have given him so much stick. I hope he proves those people wrong.
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 11:13 - Jan 15 Maybe he wasn't very impressed by Kesgrave and is reconsidering. I check this every hour, its getting a bit tedious.
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algy added 11:29 - Jan 15 When the training ground development was announced KM stated the importance of the training ground in attaracting, (or not deterring? ) , players he wants to bring in. Maybe Philo has had a good look at ours.
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BobbyBell added 11:41 - Jan 15 It just seems to me that with a week's delay waiting for Villa to get their signing done, all the paperwork for Philogene should be ready and waiting for him to just put pen to paper. If things are still not agreed then I'd rather we moved on as he must be demanding more than we are prepared to give.
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Linkboy13 added 11:43 - Jan 15 People cannot seem to grasp the fact that the Premier league is so much stronger than the championship and just because they can do it in the championship they think or imagine they are going to rip it up in the Premier league. There's no doubt in my mind that we are a Premier league club but some areas of the back room staff are still in championship mode. Keiran McKenna (not me) stated a couple of weeks ago that our recruitment has to be better and we have to look further afield. The owners at the moment must be a bit concerned where their money is going. 20 million for Philogene is way over the top.

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Tedray added 11:57 - Jan 15 Where is Phil Ojean - there seems to be a roaring silence from those in the know but perhaps they are not......
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dirtydingusmagee added 12:00 - Jan 15 12 noon and no sign of smoke yet.
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bluebullet29l added 13:06 - Jan 15 Can't believe twtd fell for that CGI photo.....
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ArnieM added 13:16 - Jan 15 We do seem to take a helluva long time to get out targets over the line don't we!
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algy added 13:23 - Jan 15 Relax, we're building a team to bounce back as Championship winners 2025/26. Rest of this season is about him bedding in to the system. No urgency.
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