IPSWICH have targeted Wigan's David Wright to solve their right-back problem position.Town boss Jim Magilton is understood to have inquired about the player and a deal could go through in time for him to be included in the squad for the weekend trip to Sunderland.

By Mel Henderson

IPSWICH have targeted Wigan's David Wright to solve their right-back problem position.

Town boss Jim Magilton is understood to have inquired about the player and a deal could go through in time for him to be included in the squad for the weekend trip to Sunderland.

Wright, 26, is out of contract at the JJB Stadium at the end of the season but the Latics are prepared to allow him to depart before the end of the January transfer window.

A Wigan source confirmed: “Paul Jewell has said he expects a few departures in the next couple of weeks and he wouldn't stand in Wright's way.”

Town would have to pay around £150,000 for Wright, who cost Wigan £500,000 when they signed him from first club Crewe in June 2004.

At the time Ipswich, then managed by Joe Royle, were also interested in the player but their failure to win promotion to the Premiership that year put him out of their price bracket.

Wright is a product of the famous Crewe Academy, being recruited straight from school and graduating under the guidance of long-serving manager Dario Gradi.

He made 240 first team appearances in his time at Gresty Road and has added a further 49, 13 of them coming in the current Premiership campaign, in his time with Wigan. Last season he played five games during a loan spell at Norwich.

Magilton has made the signing of an established right-back his main priority and Wright's arrival would allow stand-in Alex Bruce to revert to his favoured role in the heart of the defence.

The Town boss is also talking to a striker and his agent about a move to Portman Road and refused to rule out the possibility of making two permanent signings during the current window.