TWTD understands Town are closing in on the signing of Nigeria international forward Sone Aluko.

We understand he is at the club this afternoon and is the third player manager Paul Cook was talking about this morning at his press conference.

The 32-year-old is a free agent having left Reading at the end of last season.

Born in Hounslow, Aluko started his career with Birmingham City having been brought up in the second city.

Loan spells with Aberdeen and Blackpool followed before he joined the Pittodrie club on a permanent basis in September 2008.

After three years, Aluko left and moved on to Rangers, where he spent the 2011/12 season before moving on to Hull City that summer.

In July 2016, 5ft 8in tall Aluko moved on to Fulham but was at Craven Cottage for only a season before moving to Reading for a reported £7.5 million on a four-year deal. He spent a spell on loan Beijing Renhe in China in 2019.

Following his Royals release this summer, Aluko, whose sister Eniola won 102 caps for England, has been training with Derby and played in their friendly at home to Real Betis, which was watched by Blues boss Cook.

Having won England caps at U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels, Aluko switched allegiance to Nigeria and played for their U20s and U23s before winning seven full caps, scoring two international goals.

Town have already completed the loan signing of Aston Villa forward Louie Barry, while Michael Jacobs is also expected to complete his move from Portsmouth later today.

We understand Hayden Coulson's long-awaited loan switch from Middlesbrough should be completed early next week.

Photo: Action Images

itfcserbia added 17:34 - Aug 6 I don't remember when was the last time influx of players caused such meltdown on TWTD lol
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BcarefulwhatUWish4 added 17:35 - Aug 6 Good player and hope that he does sign. We were lacking experience and he's got that both in the Premiership and at International level.
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BcarefulwhatUWish4 added 17:37 - Aug 6 Just to clarify as well, he is "mostly" a winger.
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blues1 added 17:39 - Aug 6 Town jewels. You are aware of how much wages we got off our bill from last season? Both from players who were released and those weve sold? Most of those will have been on higher wages than we will be paying this season. Tho I expect players we sign now will get a generous signing on fee in order to keep the wage bill within the limit.
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blues1 added 17:41 - Aug 6 Jeff norman. Jackson tes. Norwood wont be going anywhere tho. Dont get why anyone thinks he would be. Those weve signed are hardly direct replacements for him. Other than maybe Piggott.
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 17:43 - Aug 6 I think people misunderstood Wacko: it's about 218 miles from Norwood to Wigwn and takes just over 4.5 hours. Hope that helps. Have a nice day.
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Cadiar added 17:49 - Aug 6 Chris Felix maybe you don't remember how good Finidi was in his 6 games or so. He then got a broken jaw or cheek bone & was out for a long time. On his debut v Derby he was unplayable.
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istanblue added 17:57 - Aug 6 Never really rated this guy. Has scored a whopping 6 goals over 4 seasons for Reading. Would rather we spent what will be a considerable wage elsewhere.
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BeattiesBackPocket added 17:59 - Aug 6 It's funny I remember some on here wanting Murphy back at the age of 34 yet the same old moaners are moaning about this guys age. He would clearly be coming as a back up however he has demanded some decent transfer fees so clearly can't be that bad
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tractorboybig added 18:00 - Aug 6 I have quite a few reading friends and they consider him CRAP.
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d77sgw added 18:26 - Aug 6 So we've now got Piggot, Bonne, Fraser, Norwood, Dobra, Aluko, Jacobs, Barry, Norwood and Jackson to play up front or No.10, for a guy that prefers a lone striker (that's 10 players). And at centre back we have just Nsiala, Wolf and and Edmondson. I'm trying not to worry here, but our recruiting seems to be rather unbalanced to say the least. As others are saying hopefully our 3-3-4 formation this season will be entertaining at least!

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Northstandveteran added 18:26 - Aug 6 What do your illiterate friends think tractorboybig? 😉
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Juggsy added 18:28 - Aug 6 The last Nigerian 32 year old was closer to 60 irl wasn't he?
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Juggsy added 18:29 - Aug 6 The last one we signed I mean
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Dissboyitfc added 18:31 - Aug 6 Blues1 I think you will find signing on fees will be included as salary, so no loop hole there!
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JewellintheTown added 18:33 - Aug 6 Apparently Ashton got an email from a Nigerian football agent yesterday saying he had a top class Nigerian footballer that's also a prince and he could transfer for free but he had to send £1 million to pay off some visas before hes allowed to play. Ashton put it in his bank yesterday but its all gone a bit quiet for some reason.
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Gr33ngr455 added 18:34 - Aug 6 Great to see another attacking option, that's two more today with the likelihood of a third. But we need to get some defensive cover ASAP and a Captain figure.
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ChrisFelix added 18:43 - Aug 6 Caviar, I was really thinking of the nightmare season which saw a relegation we never got over. The Derby game you mention I know he had a good game , helped by their full back seeing red
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Northstandveteran added 18:44 - Aug 6 Comedy gold Jewellinthetown 😂
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BlueArrow added 18:51 - Aug 6 The policy for this season with all these attack minded players is "We're gonna score one more than yooooouu"
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tractorboybig added 19:05 - Aug 6 northstandveteran they are quite intelligent unlike some on this site
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number8 added 19:05 - Aug 6 If you look at where he has played previously, he will be competing in wide areas not the forward spot! 🙄
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 19:20 - Aug 6 So Ronaldo was 33 when he signed for Juventus for £100m and a went on to win back to back titles. We don't need all our signings to be young diamonds in the rough who will still be playing for us in 8 years time, we also need players who can do it this season. If he's bags a few goals over the next two or three seasons and establishes us in the Championship then job done. Welcome Sone.

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planetblue_2011 added 19:21 - Aug 6 Fantastic get him in very experienced player which will help us even more! Great stuff ITFC really signing some stars ⭐️ COYB⚽️
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ringwoodblue added 19:23 - Aug 6 Aluko's experience and creativity will be a useful addition to the squad. If my memory serves me correctly, he appeared a few times on EFL on Quest last season so he can be our spokesman on there. Another defender and goalie next please.
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