FINIDI GEORGE was last night holding talks with Turkish club Fenerbahce about a permanent move to the Istanbul-based club. George, a £3.1m signing from Spanish side Real Mallorca, was made available on a free transfer by George Burley in the summer and new boss Joe Royle has also told the European Cup winner and Olympic medal holder he can leave for nothing.

FINIDI GEORGE was last night holding talks with Turkish club Fenerbahce about a permanent move to the Istanbul-based club.

George, a £3.1m signing from Spanish side Real Mallorca, was made available on a free transfer by George Burley in the summer and new boss Joe Royle has also told the European Cup winner and Olympic medal holder he can leave for nothing.

Fenerbahce believe the winger can re-discover his best form by moving to Turkey and had scheduled talks to take place in Istanbul this weekend.

But after vice-president Sadettin Saran flew in to Britain in an effort to sign Tottenham striker Sergei Rebrov, a meeting with George was re-arranged in London yesterday for negotiations to begin.

Saran said: "We're definitely interested in Finidi, whether or not we manage to sign Rebrov. We need an attacking midfielder but can't spend too much cash and he fits the bill.

"Nigerian players have always done well in Turkey, so I'm not too worried about his form at Ipswich."

The Nigerian international is close to agreeing a £1million settlement with Ipswich Town for the remaining two-and-a-half years of his £20,000-a-week, four-year contract at Portman Road.

The EADT revealed last week that talks between chairman David Sheepshanks and his Dutch agent were held as the club try and cut losses on a player who is arguably their most expensive disappointment, costing them around £5m.

The deal for George has been brokered by Gerd Butzeck, the same agent who took Russian striker Vlad Beschastnykh to Fenerbahce last week.

The Turkish club need new blood as they are set to lose their homesick midfield playmaker Haim Revivo to an Israeli club in the next few weeks.

George has not been included in tonight's reserve team squad to face Leicester City's second string at Portman Road, 7pm kick-off.

Richard Naylor has and will play as a centre-back in front of a number of admiring scouts. Royle admitted he has had a number of enquiries for the versatile hard man but is not willing to allow him out on loan.

Among the managers asking for Naylor was Huddersfield boss Mick Wadsworth, who believed Royle would not allow him to leave as he was concerned about losing a player or two to a Premiership side, but that was last month and before Jamie Clapham was sold.

He said: "I get more inquiries about Richard than any other player. Mick was one of many who asked about him some weeks ago but I'm not looking at loan moves at present."

If a club were to offer hard cash then Royle would be forced to reconsider about Naylor, or indeed any of his squad.

Tonight's game will be an important one for South African defender Justin Miller, who gets his first opportunity to impress Royle after returning from a successful loan spell with Leyton Orient.

Squads

Ipswich Town: Pullen, Bloomfield, Naylor, J Miller, Beevers, Richards, Westlake, Reuser, Abidallah, Armstrong, Bowditch, Morrow, Price, Chaffey, Okay and Robinson.

Leicester City: Price, Lyth, Campbell, Ashton, Heath, Lewis, McSweeney, Reeves, Stevenson, Wright, Deen, Tozer, Murphy, Larvin, Doyle, Lewis, Benjamin, Oakes and O'Grady.