IT'S the question every Ipswich Town fan is trying to answer - should the club sell Darren Currie?The former Brighton winger could move to Elland Road in a swap deal involving young Leeds defender Dan Harding.

IT'S the question every Ipswich Town fan is trying to answer - should the club sell Darren Currie?

The former Brighton winger could move to Elland Road in a swap deal involving young Leeds defender Dan Harding.

Currie, who was signed for £250,000 by former boss Joe Royle in December 2004, still has a year left on his current contract.

He has failed to agree terms on a new deal and Ipswich may wish to cash in on the player who put in more crosses than any other player in the Coca-Cola Championship last season and was one of the division's leading players in terms of assists.

Phil Ham, editor of the Those Were The Days fanzine and an Evening Star columnist, said: “The club have got to look at selling players if they are 31 like Darren Currie is and only have a year left on their contract.

“He has been a player who is not everyone's cup of tea. No-one has split the jury more than him at Portman Road over the last few years.

“He has got undoubted strong points to his game and also undoubted weak points to his game. His fans will highlight his dead-ball skills and the naysayers will point to his contribution in open play which is perhaps not as dynamic as it may be with his lack of pace and mobility.

“There was always the question of whether a new manager would want him. He was bought by Joe Royle at a time when we were winning a lot of free kicks and corners and wanted to make more of that and he had shown in his few months at Brighton that he was at the top of his game.

“I wondered about his future when I heard Jim Magilton and Bryan Klug say they wanted the first team to play with more pace like the academy, which we may do if he goes.”

Andrew Redfern, chairman of the Ipswich Town FC Supporters' Club, said: “It is an interesting one from a Town supporters' perspective. We do need to strengthen in certain areas.

“When Darren can get hold of the ball he can contribute with his assists, but when you consider his age and position in the transfer market where he can command a fee and bring money into the club then you have to look at it.

“We have seen him contribute to the team on a regular basis, but at the same time Jim Magilton is looking at what he needs and if the time is right to recruit and strengthen then the club will look at it.

“Pace is one area that Ipswich will be looking at as at times early last season when we had Darren, Jim and Kevin Horlock we were not as mobile as we wanted to be, although we do have emerging young players like Danny Haynes, Billy Clarke, Jaime Peters and Darryl Knights.”

Leeds are willing to do a swap deal to secure Currie, who is the nephew of former Leeds United legend and England midfielder Tony Currie, with the unsettled David Healy being used as a sweetener but the Blues are more keen to secure a defender.

Town boss Jim Magilton last night confirmed Leeds wanted Currie and that Harding was an option.

He said: “Leeds have expressed an interest in Darren Currie and we have said we would be interested in a left-back. Danny Harding's name has come to the fore but that is as far as it has gone so far.

“Nothing has been made firm by Leeds and we have not decided anything.”