ROY Keane is ready to carry on spending after landing his first major signing of the summer yesterday.With young Welsh defender Troy Brown handed a one-year deal on Wednesday and Irish left-back Damien Delaney signing for an undisclosed fee from QPR yesterday, Keane said that he is hoping to add three or four more new faces before Town's Championship season opener against Coventry on August 9.

Stuart Watson

ROY Keane is ready to carry on spending after landing his first major signing of the summer yesterday.

With young Welsh defender Troy Brown handed a one-year deal on Wednesday and Irish left-back Damien Delaney signing for an undisclosed fee from QPR yesterday, Keane said that he is hoping to add three or four more new faces before Town's Championship season opener against Coventry on August 9.

Speaking ahead of Town's first official pre-season training session at Playford Road yesterday, Keane said: “I hope, in time, to bring in maybe four or five. We are close with two (one later turned out to be Delaney) and there will hopefully be another two or three over the next two weeks.

“The fun and games will start over the next few weeks when managers get back to their clubs and take stock of what they've got. It's quite difficult these days with the transfer fees that are mentioned but if you want quality you've got to pay for it.”

The other signing Town are believed to be close to making is 22-year-old Manchester United winger Lee Martin, with Bristol City manager Gary Johnson admitting on Wednesday that, although he was interested in the player, he expected him to join up with Keane at Ipswich.

Other potential signings could be Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes, with the Black Cats wanting to sell rather than loan, and out-of-contract Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley.

Meanwhile, Keane told his existing squad players that every single one of them, no matter how inexperienced, will be able to make their claim for a place in his first team line-up over the coming weeks.

“Over the next four or five weeks hopefully some players will come to the forefront and I like to think that all the players will be able to stake a claim for the Coventry game,” said Keane.

“Pre-season is always exciting and everyone starts with a clean slate. There is an opportunity as early as next week (Ipswich play Northern Irish side Finn Harps on Tuesday) to stake a claim. When you're playing a game there is always something at stake.”He added: “It usually seems to be the hottest day of the year when teams come back (to training), but we're here to get back to business.

“First and foremost we want to try and avoid any injuries over the next few weeks. We want to get the players fit and strong - certainly stronger than last season. We will be straight into some ball work and I think the guys will be pleasantly surprised.”