Joe Royle says he is confident that the Premiership defender he has targeted to bring in on a season long loan will get the clearance from his club to join Blues.

The Town boss revealed at the weekend that he was hoping to supplement his squad with two loan signings, one for the duration of the 2004/05 campaign.

That immediately set off rumours of the identity of the mystery defender with Southampton's Chris Baird heavily linked with a switch to Portman Road.

Joe quickly denied that the Northern Ireland international wasn't the player and told Ipswich World: "Perhaps I was a bit premature in mentioning the loan deal because it set off a load of guessing games and I don't want to go down that road.

"The player concerned is at a Premiership club and that club are making their final decisions very soon on whether they want to release that player for the year.

"We're pretty sure that will happen and we are well down the road for the deal to take place."

Joe has also admitted that he would like to bring in a striker on loan.

Subscribers to Ipswich World can watch the latest Town TV News which includes the full, exclusive interview with Joe plus chats with Drissa Diallo and Matt Richards. Click here to access Ipswich World.

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