Peterborough United director of football Barry Fry has revealed that Ipswich Town bid three times for midfielder Jack Taylor in January.
The EADT and Ipswich Star were the first to reveal the Blues’ interest in Taylor last May, with Fry responding to that story by slapping a tongue-in-cheek £10m price tag on the former Republic of Ireland U21 international.
Ipswich went on to sign Dominic Ball and Panutche Camara as central midfield options in that summer transfer window, but both those players endured injury-hit seasons and Kieran McKenna was left looking for another central midfielder come the January transfer window.
Town once again tried to prise Taylor away from London Road, but Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony was quick to insist the 24-year-old was not for sale and Ipswich ended up signing Massimo Luongo on a tree transfer from Middlesbrough.
Taylor joined Peterborough for a fee of around £500k from Barnet in January 2020, with his length of contract not revealed.
If Luongo signs the contract he has been offered, Ipswich will have eight central midfielders, the others being Sam Morsy, Lee Evans, Ball, Camara, Cameron Humphreys and returning loaness Rekeem Harper and Idris El Mizouni.
Speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph, Fry said: “I expect Jack Taylor to end up in the Championship and there are clubs after him, including Ipswich who bid three times for him in January.
“It’s been very quiet overall though. Clubs don’t want to pay players’ wages in the summer if they can help it.”
After losing a dramatic League One play-off semi-final to Sheffield Wednesday, Peterborough are looking to rebuild the squad.
Prolific goalscorer Jonson Clarke-Harris – now in the final year of his contract – is one of nine players to have been publically transfer-listed, along with Frankie Kent, Dan Butler, Oliver Norburn, Josh Knight, Ben Thompson, Joe Tomlinson, Jeando Fuchs and Christy Pym.
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US Owners at Portman Road
Two members of the US arm of the Blues’ ownership were at the club on Friday for meetings with CEO Mark Ashton and his management team.
Ed Schwartz, the CEO of ORG, the US investment firm which manages funds on behalf of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS), the Blues’ ultimate majority shareholder, and Mark Steed, the chief investment officer of PSPRS, met with Ashton, chief operating officer Luke Werhun and other staff at Portman Road.
The long-planned meeting is understood to have been arranged as Steed (pctured above) and Schwartz were in the country last week and was part of the regular ongoing discussions between the US and UK wings of the club as the Blues look ahead to the 2023/24 campaign.
The Town players are back at Playford Road for the start of pre-season training on Monday 26th June.
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