Former Ipswich Town Apprentice Caolan Lavery’s move to Bradford City is still up in the air after the club confirmed that ‘talks were ongoing’ but unlikely to come to a conclusion until the players agent returns from Business in the far east.
The Northern Ireland under-21 international striker has been training at the club since completing his Apprenticeship at Ipswich in the summer.
He had hoped to put pen to paper this week and Lavery’s agent Thomas Brookes tweeted on Wednesday that a deal had been confirmed.
But City’s joint-chairman Mark Lawn contradicted that claim at the weekend saying;
“Talks are ongoing with his agent but at present his agent is in China.”
Bantams boss Phil Parkinson has already indicated that Canadian-born Lavery is seen as one for the future.
Speaking earlier in the week, Parkinson said:
“If you get a chance to sign a young goalscorer, then sometimes that can be too good to turn down.”
“We’ve been monitoring Caolan at Ipswich. The scout down there, Brian Owen, has worked with me at Charlton and Colchester before and he’s watched him progress in the youth team.”
Lavery, who suffered a serious knee injury last season, turned down the offer of a six-month pro deal with Ipswich and City have been checking carefully to see if they would be liable for any compensation claim from the Tractor Boys.
Former Valley Parade boss Paul Jewell was unhappy that he rejected another chance at Ipswich and accused him at the time of “putting more credence on money rather than an opportunity.”
The 19-year-old came off the bench to make his Under-21 international debut against Serbia last month and had trials at Leicester and Sunderland before linking up with City. He is hopeful that a deal will get sorted “very soon”.
