GEORGE Burley, the Ipswich boss who yesterday boosted his squad with the signing of £1.5million French left winger Ulrich Le Pen, said today that the search for more top talent goes on.

By Dave Allard

GEORGE Burley, the Ipswich boss who yesterday boosted his squad with the signing of £1.5million French left winger Ulrich Le Pen, said today that the search for more top talent goes on.

"We're delighted to have got Ulrich and feel that we have a good squad, but we keep looking at all sorts of other possibilities and if the right player became available at a price we could afford then we may move again," Burley said.

The man who has the final word as regards the purse strings, chairman David Sheepshanks, said: "There is no one else in the pipeline at the moment, but we will keep on looking and there are limited funds available to George should he need to further strengthen the squad."

Burley likens the 27-year-old Le Pen to Bobby Petta, the Dutch winger signed from Feyenoord who is now at Celtic.

He said: "Ulrich is in the mould of Bobby.

"He'll give us abilities that we haven't got in the squad. We've not got a natural winger so he will give us balance and different options on the left-hand side.

"We're looking to turn our possession into winning games and I feel that Ulrich has the qualities to pinpoint crosses for us."

Le Pen, who will make his debut in Sunday's home game with Bolton, said: "At first I was surprised that Ipswich were after me, but now I'm very happy to be here.

"Everything happened so quickly. I came over to look at the stadium and the facilities and was very impressed.

"It is a good opportunity for me to play in the Premier League in England with a good team.

"It is a good challenge for me. It is the ambition of so many French players to come and play in the English Premiership."

While Le Pen will make his debut in front of the live Sky Sports

cameras on Sunday (kick-off 4pm), he will not be eligible for the UEFA Cup third round first leg with Inter Milan at Portman Road tomorrow week.

Burley first spotted Le Pen when he flew to France to watch Lauren Robert play for Paris St Germain against Lorient in the summer.

The Blues were very keen on Robert. However, there was little or no hope of getting him.

Not long after, he moved to Newcastle in a £10m deal.

But the interest in French

Under-21 international Le Pen remained.

Lorient were very reluctant to sell this exciting wing raider.

Sheepshanks said: "We had to convince them to release him and once we spoke to the player he was keen to join us."