Two more League One clubs have made approaches for in-demand Ipswich Town defender Janoi Donacien, we understand.
The 27-year-old has been made available for the Blues during the January transfer window, with multiple clubs in League One and Two showing interest in a player who hasn’t played a single minute of league football under Paul Lambert this season.
Fleetwood Town and Wigan Athletic are understood to be the latest clubs to have made loan offers for the versatile defender, after Town rejected an offer in the region of £50,000 from Plymouth Argyle last week.
Accrington Stanley, the club Donacien joined Ipswich from on loan in 2018 and permanently in 2019, remain interested as do further clubs in the third and fourth tiers. Shrewsbury Town and Colchester United are two clubs to have previously shown interest in the defender.
The Blues are willing to loan Donacien out this month and would much prefer a temporary move over a permanent departure at this stage, given they spent £750,000 on his just two years ago.
Donacien is out of contract in the summer but Town have the option to extend his deal by a further 12 months – an option there is a real chance the Blues will take despite his lack of football under Lambert.
The arrival of Josh Harrop on loan earlier this week means Town must now leave a senior player (aged 21 or over on January 1, 2020) out of their 22-man League One squad at the end of this month. Donacien’s departure would free up the necessary space.
Donacien has made just 33 appearances for Ipswich since being signed by Paul Hurst, with 11 of those coming in Hurst’s 15 matches in charge of the Blues and the remaining 22 spread throughout the 104 Lambert has taken charge of.
The current Town boss was Aston Villa manager at a time when Donacien was a teenage defender with the Premier League club, with Lambert loaning the right-back back to Accrington just a few days after his initial loan move was made permanent in January 2019.
As things stand, Donacien is the only fit, specialist right-back behind incumbent Luke Chambers, with Kane Vincent-Young having not played in more than a year due to injury.
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