CESAR Navas is on his way to Portman Road - as long as he makes a full recovery from the foot injury he sustained playing for Ipswich Town at Crawley last week.

By Elvin King

CESAR Navas is on his way to Portman Road - as long as he makes a full recovery from the foot injury he sustained playing for Ipswich Town at Crawley last week.

Blues boss Jim Magilton today confirmed that the 27-year-old Spaniard did enough while on trial with Ipswich to warrant a contract with the Coca-Cola Championship club.

A 6'4” central defender Navas has one year of his contract left with Spanish side Malaga, and Town would be asked to pay around £400,000 for his signature.

Navas has undergone surgery to have a plate inserted in his right foot as part of his rehabilitation from his metatarsal injury - and he is set to be on the sidelines for up to eight weeks.

Magilton said: “If Cesar had stayed fit I would like to think he would be an Ipswich player by now.

“He is what we are looking for to give us more defensive depth.

“We will see how he recovers and then take it from there. We know there is a fee involved, and this is something we will deal with.”

With the transfer window closing on permanent transfers at the end of the month, Ipswich might well make a move in three weeks time depending on how well Navas recovers.

He is a former Spanish Under-17 and Under-18 international and was a member of the Real Madrid junior side as a teenager.

Navas is friendly with former Malaga striker Pablo Counago, who has returned to Portman Road this summer.

He is keen to play in England and there was interest last season from English clubs, including Sunderland.

N (SQUARE) TOWN midfielder Sylvain Legwinski could well be involved when Ipswich play a friendly at Ridgeons League Leiston tonight.

“Sylvain has recovered from his foot injury, he just needs games to get match fit,” said Town boss Jim Magilton.

N (SQUARE) IPSWICH Under-18's drew 1-1 at Port Vale yesterday with Jordan Rhodes the scorer.