JASON Scotland may be on the verge of signing a new contract at Ipswich Town, but that has not stopped manager Paul Jewell sounding out free agent Ricardo Fuller over a potential move to Portman Road.
After playing an important part in the Blues’ season – often as an impact sub – it’s understood that striker Scotland will finally pen a new one-deal deal upon his return from holiday in his native Trinidad.
Like fellow Trinidadian club-mate Carlos Edwards, it will be on reduced terms with a clause entitling him to an automatic second year if he starts a certain number of games next season.
Jewell is still keen to further strengthen a forward line which remains thin on the ground though.
And a source close to Stoke City has told the EADT that enquiries have been made by the Blues regarding what it would take to bring forward Fuller to Suffolk.
At 32 years of age, the former Jamaica international does not fit into Jewell’s switch in policy – the Blues boss having promised fans that he was looking to bring in ‘young and hungry’ players rather than experienced professionals dropping down from the top-flight at the end of their careers.
However, with Edwards, Scotland, Damien Delaney and the out-of-favour duo of Jimmy Bullard and Nathan Ellington the only players currently aged over 30 in the squad, the Blues boss feels there is still scope to add of at least one established name.
Potters fans have voiced their disappointment at Fuller being released this summer following a return of 50 goals from more than 200 appearances at the Premier League club.
And Blues supporters will remember him fondly from his brief loan spell at Portman Road in 2006, the then Southampton player scoring twice in three games before the Potters beat Town to his £500,000 signature that summer.