Ipswich Town have been linked with Middlesbrough’s Rudy Gestede and Grant Leadbitter.
According to a report in the Northern Echo, Ipswich Town have failed in their bid to bring in Middlesbrough’s Rudy Gestede and Grant Leadbitter on loan due to their high wages.
The report claims Ipswich officials enquired about the duo with manager Paul Lambert seeking to bring them in, but their reported Premier League wages are said to be way beyond Ipswich’s capabilities.
The Tractor Boys currently find themselves ten points adrift of safety at the bottom of the Championship and they need to bring in players this January to stand a fighting chance of survival.
Ipswich are paying the price for selling the likes of Aaron Webster, Joe Garner and Martyn Waghorn last summer and not replacing them adequately and, with finances tight, they face an uphill task.
Middlesbrough are at the opposite end of the Championship and seeking a return to the Premier League, with both Gestede and Leadbitter out of favour under manager Tony Pulis.
Leadbitter, a former first-team regular at the Teesside club, has made just one league start this season while striker Gestede is fourth in line and has made just four appearances in the Championship.
The Boro duo are evidently not in Pulis’s plans, but their reported wages could make them difficult to budge with Leadbitter’s contract expiring next summer and Gestede contracted until the summer of 2020.
Ipswich have managed to sign Will Keane on loan from Hull City and left-back Callum Elder on loan from Leicester City, but they need more experience and a greater threat in the final third.
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