SIMON Clegg has admitted he is “bitterly disappointed” by the failure to land Sean St Ledger from Leicester City.

The Republic of Ireland defender was due to sign for Ipswich this week after a fee was agreed between the two clubs.

But Clegg discovered that the move was off just 12 hours before St Ledger was set to make his debut against Birmingham City.

The chief executive said: “I am bitterly disappointed. We expected Sean to be in the team for the Birmingham game but I got a call on Wednesday morning saying it was off.”

Clegg hoped the deal could be rekindled but Leicester revealed that St Ledger would be in the Foxes squad for their match against Barnsley tomorrow.

As expected, the Foxes claimed that St Ledger was needed due to John Pantsil and Sol Bamba going to the African Cup of Nations while Bulgarian international Aleksandar Tunchev has only just made a full return to action following a two-year absence through injury.

But the problems surrounding all three defenders was known prior to a fee being agreed for St Ledger, who had voiced concerns about the future of under-pressure Paul Jewell, according to the Town manager himself.

Speaking yesterday, Leicester assistant manager Craig Shakespeare said: “(Ipswich manager) Paul Jewell had registered an interest in Sean but I don’t now how near he was to joining them but with him being a defender we have to cover ourselves here.

“Whether the situation will change in a week, two weeks before the deadline finishes, then who knows?”

Suggesting that St Ledger might now be back in favour at the King Power Stadium, Shakespeare added: “The club’s interests go before anything else and he is contracted to this football club and he has shown a great attitude in training.”