Ipswich Town will announce the signing of striker Leon Best today, with the striker set to be the first of many through the door in the next two days.

Best, 29, has been a free agent since being released by Rotherham in the summer and has recently been training with the Blues. He’ll sign a one-year deal.

The well-travelled front man – whose former clubs include Southampton, Coventry, Newcastle, Blackburn, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby and Brighton – will help fill the void left following Daryl Murphy’s £3m move to Newcastle.

Town manager Mick McCarthy is keen to bolster his squad further though before tomorrow night’s 11pm transfer deadline, especially as there is no ‘emergency’ loan window this season, with another striker and versatile wingers topping his wish list.

It’s understood that several young Premier League players have been considered for loan – the likes of Sullay Kaikai (Crystal Palace), Dominic Solanke (Chelsea), Oliver McBurnie (Swansea) and Chuba Akpom (Arsenal) – but the preference is to add some Championship experience on a permanent basis.

Burnley duo Michael Kightly, 30, and Lukas Jutkiewicz, 27 – a left-winger and target man respectively – are two top targets. The Clarets are known for driving a hard bargain though and want to make signings of their own before letting their fringe players move on.

Kightly, as revealed by the EADT and Ipswich Star back in July, has long been keen on being reunited with his former Wolves boss at Portman Road.

It’s the domestic market that remains the focus, with any new recruits needing to ticks the usual McCarthy required attribute boxes of being a good character off the field and a hard-worker on it.

Big Jamaican front man Clayton Donaldson had been lined up as a potential Murphy replacement last summer, but the 32-year-old – who is in the final year of his deal at Birmingham – would be hard to prise away from St Andrew’s given how important he is to Gary Rowett’s side.

Free agents can still sign for clubs after the window shuts and their agents will be advising those players to keep their powder dry. The likes of Hal Robson-Kanu and Victor Anichebe may well fall into that bracket.

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