Ipswich Town in pole position over Wolves to sign Burnley star | OneFootball

The Clarets centre-back looks like he'll almost certainly be on the move before the end of the transfer window.

Ipswich Town are said to be leading the race for Burnley centre-back Dara O'Shea.

TalkSPORT's Alex Crook has stated that the Tractor Boys are in the "box seat" to sign the 25-year-old, who has been linked to fellow top flight sides Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Burnley have been seemingly preparing for O'Shea's exit, as their two most recent additions have been players in the Irish international's position: Joe Worrall from Nottingham Forest, and Bashir Humphreys on loan from Chelsea.

Ipswich in good position to sign Dara O'Shea

Crook stated that Kieran McKenna's side are now in a strong position to beat Wolves to the signing of O'Shea.

Monetary issues had caused problems with Gary O'Neill's attempts to bring the 25-year-old to Molineux. They have made £94 million from the sales of Max Kilman and Pedro Neto, and yet the boss has only got £20 million to spend in the remaining days of the window, according to The Telegraph.

O'Shea was identified as an option for them, but they were reported to have submitted a £13 million offer which fell short of the Clarets' asking price of £15 million, as per the BBC (19:03, August 22nd).

The gap in valuation, albeit a small one, is said to have caused issues with Wanderers' attempts to sign the defender. If they were to meet Burnley's asking price, that would mean spending 75% of their remaining budget.

He was said to have wanted to make the move to the bitter rivals of his former side, West Bromwich Albion, according to Nick Mashiter, but that now seems unlikely.

So it now looks like Ipswich are in a prime position to capture O'Shea. They have already dipped into the Championship defender market once this summer when they signed Jacob Greaves from Hull City. They have been linked to Sheffield United's Anel Ahmedhodzic too.

Alan Nixon reported, via his Patreon, on Monday, that Town were looking to submit a £10 million offer for O'Shea. Other previous reports, from Football Insider, suggested that they had been snubbed by the centre-half, who was holding out to see if anything materialised with Brentford, who were also said to be looking into a deal for O'Shea.

He has started both of the Clarets' first two league games of the season, and has looked more than solid in both.

Mashiter stated in his report that no deal for O'Shea is expected to happen soon, so there is a chance that he features against Sunderland on Saturday.

Burnley look set to get their Dara O'Shea asking price

With Ipswich now firmly back in the race for him, after looking like quite an outsider, it feels as if there's no way that Burnley are going to sell the 25-year-old for less than the reported £15 million valuation.

How quickly it takes Town, or even Wolves, to reach that point is the bit that is the unknown, but there doesn't appear to be a way in which any team doesn't pay that much for him.

Plus, they don't need to sell him. If no bid comes in before the deadline that they are happy with, Burnley will have no issue with keeping O'Shea. And yet, if they do get an acceptable offer, they are probably going to double their money on him (they paid West Brom £7 million for the Irishman last summer).

The Clarets are in a fantastic position on this deal, and that gives them the power to demand the fee that they want and not back down from it.