IPSWICH Town manager Roy Keane will be working right through the summer searching for talent to strengthen his squad.

Elvin King

IPSWICH Town manager Roy Keane will be working right through the summer searching for talent to strengthen his squad.

Unlike his players, who are expected to be off for another five weeks before they officially return for pre-season training, Keane will not be putting his feet up.

He has been taking the advice of head of player development and scouting Bryan Klug, chief scout Steve McCall and international scout Simon Hunt and will be seeing recommended players for himself.

Keane, who has already been spotted watching games in Hungary and Scotland this month, plans to see international games at senior and Under-21 level plus club games in foreign leagues that continue through the English summer period.

The groundwork has been done and Keane will now set off on his travels to bring in the three or four players he needs to make the Blues serious promotion candidates.

“There is still a lot of football being played and I will be watching games and checking out potential targets all summer,” said Keane, who was based in his office at Portman Road yesterday.

“There are full international matches and Under-21 games going on as well as league football being played abroad.

“We will be looking far and wide for players we feel can do well for Ipswich Town.

“I'm having regular meetings with club owner Marcus Evans to look to the future. We are discussing targets, pre-season, the training ground, many aspects of the club.

“The two weeks I had before the end of the season were very useful in assessing the squad and I see my work starting now.”

Hungarian international striker Gergely Rudolf was believed to be Keane's target when he watched Debreceni play Honved and shortly afterwards he was spotted in Scotland watching Celtic beat Dundee United 2-1 with the latter's Morgaro Gomis - a defensive midfielder - reported to be interesting the Town boss.

Keane also watched Hamilton play Motherwell in the SPL with Hamilton's James McCarthy, Brian Easton and James McArthur potential targets. Keane, who has been linked with Bristol City midfielder Marvin Elliot, also has Athletic Bilbao defensive midfielder Inaki Munoz in his thoughts.

Munoz, who is surplus to requirements at Athletic despite having another year on his contract, had a week's trial with Town during the week Keane took over from Jim Magilton.