Ipswich Town manager Paul Hurst has confirmed there is interest in striker Martyn Waghorn, but insists it would take ‘a helluva lot of money’ for the Blues to even consider selling.

Waghorn scored 16 goals and provided 11 assists during a highly impressive debut campaign for the Blues.

Now, one year on from moving to Portman Road for £250k from Rangers, the 28-year-old has been linked to Championship trio Middlesbrough, Derby and Nottingham Forest.

Asked if there had been any bids for the 28-year-old, Hurst said: “No, but there’s interest there.

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“It’s only natural when you have a player who had the season he did and with those stats alone, irrespective of how he plays.

“Naturally there would be (interest) but he is another one (along with Bartosz Bialkwski) I want at the football club.

“I’m not going to say right now that ‘he’s not going anywhere’ but it will take a helluva lot of money and I don’t know if anyone is going to be willing to do that.”

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Joe Garner is another player who has been the subject of Town exit talk this summer, with national media linking him to Bolton. He did not feature in today’s 2-0 friendly defeat at Braintree due to a knock.

“There’s probably interest in all the players, or a lot of them, but if they’ve been today there might not be,” joked Hurst.

“Maybe a couple of those performances (today) will help that interest go away.”