Roger and Out at Ipswich as they sign two centre-halves

Media Rumours that Ipswich Town were about to offer an increased bid of £1.75M for Cardiff City centre-half Roger Johnson have ended almost as quickly as they started as the Suffolk club have signed two centre-halves within 24 hours.

Following the wonderfully named Pim Balkestein arriving from Holland, Town boss Jim Magilton has now signed Leicester City centre-half Gareth McAuley. It was widely believed that Magilton was after McCauley or Johnson and having obtained the former, there will no longer be any follow up enquiries or offer for the City man.

Any move to Ipswich seemed out of the question anyway as Johnson would not have left for another Championship club while Ipswich's valuations were substantially below the fee of £3M set by Peter Ridsdale.