Stars can go if price is right

IPSWICH boss Jim Magilton today admitted he would sell star duo Alan Lee and Gavin Williams.But he quickly added: “It would have to be an offer we couldn't refuse.

By Mel Henderson

IPSWICH boss Jim Magilton today admitted he would sell star duo Alan Lee and Gavin Williams.

But he quickly added: “It would have to be an offer we couldn't refuse.

“At the moment they are not going anywhere - unless we received a fantastic offer, one that was too good to turn down.

“But it's not just Alan and Gavin. Every player at every club is available for the right money and that has always been the situation.”

Top scorer Lee and midfielder Williams were on the infamous two-day jaunt to Amsterdam earlier this month, along with five other players, that led to Magilton taking disciplinary action.

But he dismissed rumours that the pair were being singled out for special attention or that they were being shown the door.

Lee, in particular, appears to be too valuable a commodity to allow to move on and heads the scoring charts with 11 goals this season.

Although Magilton remains confident of bringing in a new striker ahead of next week's transfer deadline, he also has teenagers Danny Haynes and Billy Clarke in contention and would ideally like to have four strikers challenging for the two available places.

Magilton explained the confusion that appears to exist over Williams' immediate future at the club.

He said: “I had a conversation with a journalist from Belfast and he asked if I had received any offers for Alan and Gavin.

“I said we had received no offers but it seemed to snowball from there.

“If a club came along and offered me £2 million for Gavin he could go.

“That's what I mean by a fantastic offer.

“When he's fit and well Gavin is as good as anything in this division and he is good enough to play in the Premiership.

“Nothing would please me more than us getting a great deal for Gavin and him going off to play at the very highest level, but we haven't had any offers.

“I also know that if I allowed Gavin to move on I would have to appease the chairman, the directors and the fans and it's no on my agenda at the moment.

“I don't have clubs battering down my door wanting to sign Gavin and it would need a very special offer for us to even think about letting him go.”

Williams, whose season has been interrupted by injury, appears to see things differently if quotes attributed to him in a Welsh newspaper are to be believed.

But Magilton laughed this off when he said: “Once players get in front of a microphone they will say silly things.”