The price is right?

Owen Garvan is the subjected of renewed speculation regarding a summer transfer. With the player yet to sign a new contract, Darren looks at his worth to the team.

Ipswich are now in a fairly unique position, both in terms of the football club itself and the league it plays in.

We do not need to sell players.

There are very few clubs in the Championship who could say the same with quite so much confidence. Indeed, its a rarity for Ipswich in recent years. So, now that we have a young, home-grown player with a bit of class, we actually have a choice to make should an offer come in for Owen Garvan.

It seems inevitable that some kind of offer will be forthcoming. Whilst he hasnt hit the heights that he showed at the tail-end of last season, it has been a succesful season for Garvan. Notable appearances for the under-age Ireland sides have led to the reward of a place in the full squad. He has, aside from a blip early in the new year, maintained a first team place in the championship for the entire season. Good things seem set to follow.

In keeping with this, the club have offered the player a new contract. At the time of writing, this remains unsigned. With talk of bids from Premiership sides in the summer, should Ipswich make big efforts to ensure he stays?

With the club under little pressure to sell, the real question is, do they want to? An unsigned contract offer, should it remain so, becomes a statement of intent. Of a player that is possibly looking for a future elsewhere. When the club needs all the quality it can get, it then leads to- Is Garvan of sufficient quality to be irreplaceable?

Currently, it is questionable. Is Garvan a priceless commodity who can win games single-handed? Is he able to turn a game in Ipswichs favour? Garvans value to Ipswich is such that, were he to leave, they would surely find a sufficient replacement elsewhere. In fact, by trading in the youth and promise that Garvan currently offers, they may well be able to replace him with someone who, with less years of his career remaining, might offer more experience and provide more of a finished product. In the world of the Championship, where escaping is the number one priority, it could even turn out to be an improvement. Danny Murphy, shortly to find himself in the Championship with Fulham, seems like a very obvious example in this instance. Equally, nobody has yet forgotten the instant impact that Sylvain Legwinski had upon signing for the club.

It remains to be seen how things transpire. Signing up one of ouy brightest young talents on a longer contract would be a very positive move for the club. But in these times when finance does not necessarily dictate, the alternative is actually quite positive aswell.