CITY FIGHT TO KEEP IVOR

HULL City are expecting to receive a firm offer from Championship rivals Middlesbrough in the coming hours as the Tigers look to win the fight to keep Ivor Pandur.

- By BARRY COOPER

Boro, the Mail understands, are set to lodge a formal bid for last season’s Player of the Year, with City boss Sergej Jakirovic keen to keep his fellow countryman at the MKM Stadium, with talk of a new contract also not off the agenda.

It was reported earlier this month that Pandur had been attracting interest from the Riverside Stadium club, though no formal bid had been lodged.

Jakirovic says Pandur wants to stay at the club, but how the Tigers respond to the bid will rest with owner Acun Ilicali, who was the driving force behind signing the 25-year-old stopper from Fortuna Sittard in January last year.