Town manager Kieran McKenna says Luke Woolfenden, a target of Coventry, Stoke and other Championship sides, is a player he wants to keep at Portman Road but that these situations are never simple.

The Blues rejected an approach from the Sky Blues for the 26-year-old earlier in the week, while the Potters and other Championship clubs are also understood to be keen. Sheffield United, who were interested in January, are not believed to be in the race currently.

Asked about the situation, McKenna said: “I think it’s clear Luke’s someone we’d like to keep. An important player for the club, an important player for the team. A lot of experience now with the group and has worked with us for a long time and is a very good player.

“He’s someone that we’d like to keep. The situations, as I’ve said before, aren’t always simple. There are different parties involved and different wishes involved and it’s been a challenging summer in that respect, there’s no doubt about it.

“I’ve spoken about it before. Probably the most challenging ones are probably the players that have been with us the longest because they’re players that we have a great affinity for, the supporters have a great affinity for, they’ve been part of something really, really special here.

“But we’ve had different situations this summer with the likes of Cameron Burgess in the off-season, Nathan Broadhead in pre-season, Samy Morsy in pre-season, players who have had incredible offers, really life-changing offers probably from a financial point of view that they’ve deserved off of what they’ve done over the last few years here.

“In those situations, it’s always really difficult between us wanting to keep a really strong group together, we’d like quite a few of the players who have been with us on the journey for the last few years to stay here and be part of it.

“But you also want to respect their wishes and you want to have a group come the end of August that all really, really want to be here and want to be here with the right motivation and for the right reasons to try and help the team and, of course, help their own careers as well.

“These situations are always more complicated than just what we want or just what a player would want and we’ll try and find the best solution between what’s going to be the right dynamic for the group, what depth and what quality we need in the squad to achieve what we want to achieve and also what the player’s wishes and wants are and hopefully by the end of August have a really strong and really motivated squad.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Essexnblue added 18:43 - Aug 21 Woolfie has been with us since he was 12 and has always given his best despite many centre backs coming and going. But as shown by the clubs interested in him they are all average Championship teams, which is probably his ceiling limit. If KMK thought otherwise, he would play him, the club are building again for the Premier League, if Woolfie was thought in that way then he would have had a contract extension and wouldnt be a bench warmer.

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Dubchief added 18:44 - Aug 21 BlueArmy999 couldn’t agree with you more, not sure where some of these idiots are coming from spouting such nonsense about doing a Luton, not signing anyone decent, etc. it’s hard signing the level of players that we need while still in the championship, if we get Billing and the Norwegian lad over the line and Boving or another striker in, then we should still walk championship promotion, this noise off the pitch from the fans does not help the team.

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tractorboybig added 18:47 - Aug 21 Be honest you are off loading him Dub chief why are they idiots? We are crap
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ArnieM added 19:17 - Aug 21 Woolfenden hasnt been first choice here as soon as McKenna joined Town, but in those early days League One, McKenna had other areas of the team to address first. The player hasnt really played first choice under McKenna for the last season and a half.... He wants to be playing every game or most of them, that's fair to say, but his days were numbered once McKenna began rebuilding. People might disagree or dislijevwhat im saying, but hes not in McKenna's plans as a primary CB, and never has been. Good luck to him. It'll be interesting to see how he does in pastures new.

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Gforce added 23:35 - Aug 21 A swap deal for Ben Sheaf,would be good.
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