Hatters confirm interest in young Canaries keeper

Hatters boss Nathan Jones has confirmed he would be interested in bringing former Norwich City keeper Ben Killip to the club during the summer.
Ben Killip in action for King's Lynn Town back in 2014 - pic: Tim SmithBen Killip in action for King's Lynn Town back in 2014 - pic: Tim Smith
Ben Killip in action for King's Lynn Town back in 2014 - pic: Tim Smith

The 21-year-old, who played three times for the Canaries U23 team in the Checkatrade Trophy this season, was revealed as the trialist between the posts for Town’s 4-1 reserve team win over Derby County on Tuesday afternoon.

Killip is due to be released from Carrow Road in the summer when his contract is up and Jones could well pounce to secure his services, as he said: “He’s not going to be continuing with them so we’re grateful for Norwich to give him the opportunity to come and train and work with us.

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“As it’s so much better when you get them in your own environment that you can see character-wise what they’re like, it’s not just technical and so on, so he’s done well.

“We’ve had Ben for a while, so it’s just giving him a game.

“Apart from the goal I think he’s been excellent, but we don’t judge him on one thing.

“There was slight error for the goal, but we’ve had him in for about a month, so he’s been training with our environment and he’s someone we’re looking forward to for the future.

“He’s not someone that we’re looking to being number one, but someone we’re looking forward to getting in because we want to make sure that we’re not in the same situation with keepers next year that we have been this year.

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“Now we’ve had some fine young keepers since I’ve been here. We’ve had Johnny Mitchell, who’s regularly in a Championship squad, Christian Walton, who’s done fantastically well, Matt Macey who’s highly regarded at Arsenal, so we’ve done our homework on that.

“It hasn’t been that much of a disaster, but we just want to make sure that we’re not in that situation again.”

Like Town’s star midfielder Cameron McGeehan, Killip began his career with Premier League giants Chelsea, moving to Stamford Bridge at U8 level.

He was on the bench for the Blues in their FA Youth Cup final defeat to Norwich in May 2013, where McGeehan scored from the penalty spot for the Canaries.

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Killip then headed to Norwich in December 2013 and had a short stint with King’s Lynn Town, before being loaned to Lowestoft in October 2015, playing 10 times, returning to the club the following season too.

He was awarded a one year contract extension, although will become a free agent in the summer and could well end up challenging for a place at Kenilworth Road, as Jones added: “He’s one that’s on our list. A lot depends on where we are and so on, so there’s a few decisions to make, but the process is in place.

“We’ve got a list of first choice ones then we want to add to competition as well.

“Craig King has stepped up and he’s now shown us that he may have a future as well, whereas a year ago I wouldn’t have said that but he’s done fantastically well and credit to him, so we’re just adding competition.”