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Charlie Austin Holds Town Talks

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Swindon Town have confirmed that striker Charlie Austin has been in talks with Ipswich Town today over a move to Portman Road.

Reports emerged earlier today that Ipswich were leading the chase for Austin, who is currently the Robins’ leading scorer having netted 17 times in all competitions this season. Despite rumours of strong interest from Championship rivals Coventry City and Sheffield United as well as Premier League Blackpool, it appears Town are the only team to have had a bid accepted for the player, thought to be between £1.5 million and £2 million.

Swindon manager Danny Wilson has since confirmed that he expects Austin to move on having allowed the player to travel to East Anglia for talks today.

Speaking to BBC Wiltshire, Wilson revealed: ‘We’ve accepted a bid from them and we’ve given Charlie permission to talk to Ipswich.’

‘It could be an all day job it could be tomorrow, it might not happen at all and in a selfish way I hope it doesn’t. But I can’t really see that happening’, he added.

Austin was plying his trade as a highly successful striker in non-league football before joining Swindon from Poole Town in 2009, and the 21-year-old had no trouble making the step up to League One football. Whether this would necessarily be the case moving up to the Championship is difficult to tell, but one need only look at the example set by Millwall striker Steve Morison enjoying success in the second-tier so soon after leaving non-league roots. If Austin does sign, hopefully he will have rather a better time at Ipswich than Sam Parkin, who signed from Swindon in 2005 only to suffer a dismal injury-hit season with the Blues.

Questions may arise however over whether spending up to £2 million on Austin could lead to player sales at Portman Road. Town manager Paul Jewell has not ruled out selling players this January, with David Norris known to be interesting Portsmouth and Jason Scotland potentially linked with a return to Swansea City.

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