Ipswich Town midfielder Teddy Bishop was linked with a move to Arsenal over the weekend but manager Mick McCarthy could provide stiff resistance to any offer.
Arsenal’s rumoured interest in Ipswich Town youngster Teddy Bishop may come to nothing unless the London club are willing to pay over the odds for the 18-year-old midfielder.
The Gunners were linked with a move for the Cambridge-born Tractor Boys youth academy product over the weekend, with a fee of £10 million mentioned in a report by the Mirror concerning the player.
Often deployed as a deep-lying midfield playmaker, Bishop made his first-team debut for the Portman Road side earlier this term and scored for the Blues in the Championship against league leaders Bournemouth earlier this term.
A virtuoso performance against Middlesbrough, where the midfielder set up both goals in a 2-0 win over the Teesiders saw several teams linked with a move for the youngster, and it would appear that the queue for his signature includes Arsenal.
In the midst of his debut season in the game, Bishop is likely to have been identified as one for the future, but if the Gunners and any other Premier League suitors are keen to recruit the player either this January or in the summer, they could have a fight on their hands.
Back in September the midfielder signed a two-year contract extension to remain at the club, giving the Blues the power to reject any offer deemed derisory by owner Marcus Evans, who previously held out for £8 million when Sunderland came calling for then relatively unproven striker Connor Wickham.
“I am not worried about any offers in January,” he said.
“If someone comes in and offers bonkers money then it will upset the apple cart and I will have to deal with it.
“We turned down £7.5 million for David McGoldrick and £3.5 million for Tyrone Mings.The owner Marcus [Evans] has a chunk of dough, and that is the support he gives me meaning I don’t have to sell my best players, and why would I when we are towards the top of the league?”
The comments suggest that only a ‘bonkers’ offer would tempt Ipswich to part company with one of their brightest young prospects in the midst of a season that could end in a return to the Premier League.
Ipswich Town are currently the longest serving side in the Championship, having remained in the second tier of English football longer than any side, following their relegation from the Premier League back in the summer of 2002.
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