IPSWICH Town skipper Jason De Vos today looked ahead to facing Francis Jeffers at Portman Road tomorrow and said: “We have a job to do to stop him scoring.

By Elvin King

IPSWICH Town skipper Jason De Vos today looked ahead to facing Francis Jeffers at Portman Road tomorrow and said: “We have a job to do to stop him scoring.”

The Blues begin their Coca-Cola Championship campaign when they entertain Sheffield Wednesday (kick-off 3pm) and there is added spice to the contest with the Owls signing Jeffers for a reported £700,000 last night.

Jeffers was a big hit while on loan at Portman Road at the end of last season notching four times in nine appearances and for much of the summer it looked as though he would be signing a permanent deal to play for Ipswich Town.

But after a protracted saga Jeffers was unable to agree terms with his demands believed to be around £10,000 a week.

Wednesday are reported to have matched this request and Jeffers left Blackburn Rovers on a three-year deal yesterday.

De Vos, who is in confident mood about the season after what he calls one of my best build ups in 17 years in the game, added: “Franny is just another player.

“He was on the verge of coming here but it did not happen and you cannot celebrate anything in this game until the ink is dry.

“We must do all we can to stop him scoring tomorrow, but he will not be the only Wednesday player we will have to watch.

“Football is a business and Franny has done what he thinks is best for himself and Ipswich have done what they think is best for them.

“We have brought in some good players and in Neil Alexander, Tommy Miller and Pablo Counago we have a stronger squad than the one we ended with last season when we collected a series of good results.”

Jeffers is expected to partner Marcus Tudgay up front for the Owls and he said: “At Ipswich I got my head down and worked hard because I wanted to show I could score goals.

“Although my stay at Portman Road was brief I confirmed that I can still score regularly when given a run in the side.”

Owls' manager Brian Laws, was able to complete a deal that Ipswich, Leicester and Cardiff failed to do despite his team being £26 million in debt and he is delighted to boost his front line.

Laws said: “We needed a striker for the opening match at Ipswich and I'm delighted we now have a player of Frances Jeffers' calibre.

“We've been looking for a top quality man and we certainly have one now and this is a big boost for us to take into our game at Ipswich.”

Jeffers, 26, moved from Everton to Arsenal as a 19-year-old for £8 million in June 2001 while Charlton paid £2.6 million to their London rivals for his services in 2004.

Blackburn took him on a free transfer in 2006.