Town target Richard Wright has been left out of the West Ham squad which has travelled to the USA for a pre-season tour. Wright, who was also omitted from the squad which played a friendly with Hampton and Richmond Borough on Thursday evening, is believed to be closing in on a return to Portman Road.

Boss Jim Magilton said yesterday that he expects to bring in new players prior to Wednesday's friendly at Gillingham and Wright looks likely to be one of the new additions ahead of the trip to the Priestfield Stadium.

Elsewhere, Town and Middlesbrough are said to be considering making a bids for Crewe striker Nicky Maynard. The Blues are reported to have already had a £1.75 million offer turned down, with the Railwaymen claimed to have priced the 21-year-old at £2.5 million.

Earlier in the week Jim Magilton said that he felt the Alex had put too high a price tag on their latest starlet: "Nicky is someone we like and someone we feel has a lot of potential, but it may be that Crewe price him out of the market.

"Nicky has scored a lot of goals at that level [League One] and it could be he can step up - it is something we have to consider. But either way we are not going to pay over the odds for any player.”

This week's reports in the Dutch press linking numerous clubs with Newcastle keeper Tim Krul have finally made the British tabloids. On Wednesday, a number of Dutch papers reported that Chelsea, Heerenveen and Feyenoord wanted the 20-year-old with the Premier League side then looking to send him out on loan at Town.

Today's report simply lists the Blues amongst the potentially interested parties, although with Richard Wright seemingly set to finally complete his move back to Town, this seems unlikely.

Former Town loanee Danny Simpson, a player Jim Magilton has admitted he would like to bring back to the club, has been linked with a move to Aston Villa with Martin O'Neill said to have started negotiations with Manchester United.

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