IPSWICH Town have made an audacious bid to sign Darren Bent on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.Blues boss Jim Magilton is also preparing to swoop for Chelsea winger Scott Sinclair, while hoping to secure a Premiership defender on loan, with Fulham's Dejan Stefanovic still a possibility.

Derek Davis

IPSWICH Town have made an audacious bid to sign Darren Bent on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.

Blues boss Jim Magilton is also preparing to swoop for Chelsea winger Scott Sinclair, while hoping to secure a Premiership defender on loan, with Fulham's Dejan Stefanovic still a possibility.

Magilton has stepped up the hunt after the Blues were rocked by a catalogue of injuries, with Shefki Kuqi and David Norris joining Jon Walters and Richard Naylor as serious casualties.

Kuqi will have a scan on a suspected torn hamstring this morning while Norris' recurrence of a heel problem could rule him out for the rest of the season.

Walters is likely to go under the knife this week to repair a torn cartilage, while there is concern over Naylor's damaged disc in his neck.

Despite these setbacks Magilton is determined to continue with a concerted push to win Premier League promotion by bringing in quality replacements.

Magilton said: “We will see how serious the injuries are but we are still after a couple of loan signings. We are working non-stop to get people in to give us a slight edge.”

Although it is unlikely Spurs will allow Bent to join the Blues on loan it shows the calibre of player Magilton is seeking, and that Town have the financial clout to bring in top stars.

Bent netted 19 goals in his final season with Town before making his £2.8m move to Charlton Athletic who sold him to Spurs for £16.5m last summer. Ipswich earned an extra £2.6m in a sell on clause from that deal and is still being paid in instalments.

While Bents' wages are understood to be around £65,000-a-week Ipswich are confident they could work out a deal, although Spurs manager Juande Ramos has indicated the striker can leave, he has been using him of late and Bent scored his 100th career goal in their 4-0 win over West Ham last week

Blues' moneybags new owner Marcus Evans, who was at Portman Road to see Town win, is a friend of Tottenham's owner Joe Lewis, who is reported to have lost an estimated £570m over the weekend after buying a seven percent share in American bank Bear Stearns which has hit serious financial problems.

Magilton has been alerted to the possible availability of Sinclair after Chelsea wanted to recall the winger as he had not been playing regularly for loan club Charlton who Town beat 2-0 on Saturday.

Sinclair was not named among the 16 for the Addicks at Portman Road suggesting he will be back at Stamford Bridge today and Magilton, who tried to secure his services earlier this year, is ready to make another move but faces competition from Neil Warnock at Crystal Palace and Phil Brown's Hull City.

Although the Blues defence kept a clean sheet against Charlton, Magilton is keen to bring in a loan defender with Serbian international Stefanovic able to play centre half or left back, although he also has made other strong enquiries.

Although Billy Clarke appears to have found his shooting boots once more after scoring the winner for Falkirk against Inverness CT in the SPL, Town are unable to recall him as it is an across border deal.