PREMIERSHIP club Wigan Athletic are keeping tracks on Ipswich Town Welsh international keeper Lewis Price.The Latics are looking for a new keeper and manager Paul Jewell has been impressed with Price who has enjoyed a good first half of the season with a struggling Blues side.

By Derek Davis

PREMIERSHIP club Wigan Athletic are keeping tracks on Ipswich Town Welsh international keeper Lewis Price.

The Latics are looking for a new keeper and manager Paul Jewell has been impressed with Price who has enjoyed a good first half of the season with a struggling Blues side.

While Hull City's Boaz Myhill appears to be Wigan's number one target, with the Tigers braced for a £2million bid, Price is understood to be top of the standby list.

If City refuse to sell their 23-year-old American keeper, then Jewell will not hesitate to switch his attention to the Blues number one and come in with a bid of around £1m.

Price, below, has filled many a page in a number of scouts' reports this year after making the headlines with his full Wales in Cyprus last month.

The 21-year-old has settled in quickly as a replacement for Kelvin Davis, who went to Sunderland for £1.25m, and is holding off the challenge of young Irish keeper Shane Supple, who is ready for Championship football.

Blues chairman David Sheepshanks vowed that players would not need to be sold in the January transfer window if a restructuring of the debt was achieved. The talks are at an advanced stage and the club are hoping to be in a position to repel any offers in the new year.

But a bid may still be considered if manager Joe Royle feels he can strengthen his squad by shuffling his pack with a player exchange and any excess money coming in used to buy a proven goalscorer or a left-back.

Price has recently signed a new three-year deal and has no desire to leave the Blues. But if a bid were accepted from a Premiership club and the personal terms offered were too good to refuse, it may be in his and the club's best interest to move on.

Wigan may not be the only club watching Price and his young team-mates. West Ham are linked with Dean Bowditch, with a deal involving Gavin Williams still in the air. An Achilles injury meant Bowditch missed Town's 1-1 home draw with QPR but he hopes to be fit for the visit to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Danny Haynes is likely to make his full debut, after substitute appearances against Leeds United, Burnley and a goalscoring home debut against the Rs.

Adam Proudlock is not allowed to figure as part of the loan arrangement between the Blues and Wednesday.