Boss Jim Magilton says he is confident that loan target Mark Noble will be at Portman Road on Monday. The Blues have been trying to land the 19-year-old West Ham midfielder on a short-term spell for several weeks.

Magilton told the club site: "I have spoken to Mark and he wants to come here, but he has a slight groin injury at the moment.

"He is a West Ham player, so we have to go with their wishes obviously, but I'm confident that he will be with us on Monday.

"We have been trying to get him here for a few weeks and it would have been nice to have had him available for the weekend, but we're very close now and he should be here on Monday and ready to play."

Noble came on as a sub for West Ham in both legs of the 2004/05 play-off semi-final against Town, winning his club's Young Player of the Year award that season.

Last year the Londoner played six Premiership games and one Carling Cup match for West Ham before moving on loan to Hull City where he played five times before being sidelined by a back injury.

Noble has captained the England U19s and qualifies for both England and the Republic of Ireland, but is yet to receive an U21 call for either nation.

The central midfielder is likely to be well-known to first team coach Bryan Klug from academy games against the Hammers youngsters over the years.

The terms of Noble's loan have not yet been confirmed but it is likely that initially it will be a short spell which could be renewed in stages to the end of the season.

Noble is likely to make his Town debut in next week's home game with former loan clubs Hull City.

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