Transfer Rumours - New Signings for Towns Premier League Squad 2024/25

[ITFC2024]

I don’t consider Taylor a Premier League player. Good report, but I think we need to spend money on defence and a striker. Maybe a bargain goalkeeper too. Yes and a quality CM to replace Taylor.

Taylor is fine as a backup though, I very much expect us to sign a new CM to parter Morsy.
Agree we probably need more spent in the defense, RB as well perhaps.

Yeah just don’t know what to think of Taylor. He’s scored a few brilliant goals, but he seems to go missing. I’d really like to see a strong CM come in to play with or without Morsey if necessary. I’d like to see Sarmiento back on loan, and maybe a loan striker. Also need to sign a striker, Hirst may have hamstring issues for the rest of his career. First and foremost, strengthen defensively. I know I’ve not supported 15mil signings, but I’d welcome that investment in defence.

[hallamblue]

I think there's definite chance we'll sign a GK and personally feel it'll be Walton that leaves. I'd quite like Pope back here. We're also clearly eyeing up defenders, and so we should be. A dynamic playmaker in the centre and a much needed upgrade in the striker department. Essentially the spine of thd team that has pace because we have none to compare with the PL pace we are going to face.

I dont think current players will all be dropped, but there will be a gradual transition where many of the current " first teamers" will gradually become the back ups. I expect a busy January window also as these new players will be phased in over the season.

[Cabanas Blue]

I like Pope but why would Newcastle want to sell him he was number 1 before his injury and must have been on big money surely more than we can pay but it looks like we will need a new keeper, it looks like Hladky is waiting to see what offers he get gets from other clubs.

[Charnwood]

Saw a link today regarding Joe Rodon, would love that to happen.

I’d like it to happen too but I’m not sure he fits with your spending prediction Mike. I’m thinking +£10m maybe ?

[Bluemike]

I think the owners will view this as an opportunity to become an established PL team, but the appraoch will have to be the right one.

So, yes, I agree with those who say we will look to spend between £70M and £90M, which would (just) keep us within the rules. It's how we spend it that will be interesting - do we spend it on 2-3 established 'stars' and risk rocking the boat with the rest of the squad, or do we spend it on 7-8 players who have slightly more ability than what we currently have but whom KM thinks he can get a lot more out of? I'm going firmly for the second option.

I agree on how much we'll spend, what I don't think we'll do is spend 15 million + on any one player, won't happen.

I don't think we'll go this high, but 10 million is possible

[Blue Wilf]

I don’t consider Taylor a Premier League player. Good report, but I think we need to spend money on defence and a striker. Maybe a bargain goalkeeper too. Yes and a quality CM to replace Taylor.

Taylor is fine as a backup though, I very much expect us to sign a new CM to parter Morsy.
Agree we probably need more spent in the defense, RB as well perhaps.

Yeah just don’t know what to think of Taylor. He’s scored a few brilliant goals, but he seems to go missing. I’d really like to see a strong CM come in to play with or without Morsey if necessary. I’d like to see Sarmiento back on loan, and maybe a loan striker. Also need to sign a striker, Hirst may have hamstring issues for the rest of his career. First and foremost, strengthen defensively. I know I’ve not supported 15mil signings, but I’d welcome that investment in defence.

Taylor is an interesting one for me. Most seasons, someone who was average the season before, comes good and surprises. Last season for me, it was Clarke and the season before that, it was Burgess. Somehow, these guys stepped up a league and it benefited them for some reason. For me, that person this season may well be Taylor. Time will tell. Oh and I still don't see £15M on any single player unless we really, really want them...

[hallamblue]

From Stuart Watson:
Excellent analysis… again.

He identifies that once all the likely departures are gone we have a skeleton squad of just 16 players, leaving the door open for significant numbers of new players to come in. The only position where we are fully stocked and not affected by departures or contract renewals is in fact (in my opinion), our weakest section of the squad- defence. Which is typical!



ANALYSIS
Ipswich Town: What 2024 summer transfer window could look like
2 hrs ago
IPSWICH TOWN FC

By Stuart Watson
Stuart_Watson
Chief Football Writer



EXITS SO FAR

Several players have departed since promotion to the Premier League was secured.

Kayden Jackson, Dominic Ball and Panutche Camara have been released, Sone Aluko has retired, Janoi Donacien will return for pre-season in order to get fit (but hasn’t been offered a new deal), while the loan contracts of Omari Hutchinson, Jeremy Sarmiento, Kieffer Moore, Lewis Travis and Brandon Williams have all expired.

Vaclav Hladky remains in negotiations with the club over a new deal. He’s set to become a free agent at the start of next month if an agreement isn’t reached.

Freddie Ladapo is among the Town players likely to depart over the coming weeks.


LIKELY DEPARTURES

Town aren’t under pressure to sell any key men. Promotion should mean that the Blues can keep hold of left-back assist machine Leif Davis.

There is likely to be some further streamlining of the squad though.

Young goalkeeper Cieran Slicker has revealed the plan is for him to go out on loan in 2024/25.

Academy graduates Elkan Baggott, Corrie Ndaba and Idris El Mizouni are all now in the final year of their contracts, having each had multiple loan spells away. I can see Baggott going out on loan again, with Ndaba and El Mizouni being sold for modest fees.

Is this the year that Cameron Humphreys goes out and gets regular game time on loan? Personally, I think it’s time. He’ll be 21 in October.


And it looks to me like strikers Freddie Ladapo and Gassan Ahadme, both miles from the first team picture, will see the final year of their contracts ended by mutual consent.

Will Vaclav Hladky sign a new deal?p

SKELETAL SQUAD

Stripping away all the above, Town are left with 16 senior players:

GK: Walton

RB: Clarke

CB: Woolfenden, Burgess, Tuanzebe, Edmundson

LB: Davis

CM: Morsy, Luongo, Taylor

RW: Burns

AMC: Chaplin

LW: Broadhead, Harness

ST: Hirst, Al-Hamadi

Ipswich would love to bring loan star Omari Hutchinson back - but will he prove to pricey?

WHAT’S NEEDED?

That leaves nine ‘senior’ slots to fill within the Premier League’s 25-man squad limit (those born in 2003 or later don't count).

I’m confident Kieran McKenna will max out numbers again. Squad depth has been crucial during back-to-back promotions and will be again.

Two players for every position, plus three extra options for the attacking unit is probably ideal.

Looking at the above, centre-back is the only area that has healthy numbers - and there's an argument that unit needs some different qualities.

Ultimately, McKenna is probably looking to upgrade/bolster/diversify in every single position this summer.

Some of these slots may, of course, be filled by familiar names. Hladky may well sign a new deal, while there’s potential for Hutchinson, Sarmiento, Moore and even Williams (now a free agent) to return.


To counter that, even more space could be created for fresh faces.

Will striker Ali Al-Hamadi – who was playing League Two football just a few months ago – be loaned out? Possibly.

Will keeper Christian Walton, who sat on the bench all last season and is now in the final year of his contract, push for a move elsewhere? Possibly.

My estimate is 7-10 new faces through the door. How many of those go straight into the starting XI will be interesting.



LINKS SO FAR

More than 20 players have already been linked to Ipswich since last season ended.

Here’s a piece assessing several of them and explaining how we’re going to cover the transfer window.

Colleague Alex Jones is going to take a more in-depth look at the Hutchinson situation in a an article tomorrow, so look out for that.

Kieran McKenna likes to sign 'young, hungry, technical and athletic' players.


MCKENNA’S TICK LIST

Soon after taking charge of Town, Kieran McKenna said: "I have very much a clear profile of the type of players I would like. I've spoken to Mark (Ashton) about that from the first interview.

"We need a balance of different types and different ages, but primarily I want the squad built around a young, hungry, technical and athletic group of players who have a real passion to play for this football club. That will be the base.”


If you look at the 25 different players he’s brought into the club over four transfer windows so far, other themes include being schooled by elite academies and positional versatility.

That gives you a good idea of the filters being used in Ashton's 'data dashboard'.



LOAN LIMITS

Premier League clubs can have a maximum of two domestic loans at any one time.

You'd imagine Ipswich will be towards the front of the queue when the division's big boys decide where to send their brightest young talent to develop given McKenna's reputation for improving players.

Further loans can be added from abroad, which brings us onto...

The last players Ipswich signed from a foreign league was Keanan Bennetts.


FOREIGN MARKET

All 20 Premier League clubs recruited from outside of the UK and Ireland last season.

Players arrived at clubs from leagues in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Ukraine, Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Nigeria and even Uzbekistan.

Ipswich haven’t signed a player from outside of the UK and Ireland since taking Keanan Bennetts on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2020. Before that, you're going back to 2015 when the likes of Jonas Knudsen, Kevin Bru, Piotr Malarcyk, Tommy Oar and Larsen Toure arrived.

“The net’s already been spread," insists chief executive Mark Ashton, when asked if this was the summer the club looked further afield. "The right player has just not dropped for us that we've wanted to do.

"We’ll continue to do the work and if the right one’s there then we would execute it. If it’s not there then we won’t."

Matteo Sereni is Ipswich's record transfer fee at £4.5m.


A NEW RECORD FEE?

Town’s record transfer is the £4.5m paid to sign Italian keeper Matteo Sereni back in 2001.

That will almost certainly be broken this summer given the financial landscape.

Both Burnley and Sheffield United brought in multiple players for reported £10-15m fees last summer, while even Luton spent £5m on Ryan Giles.

It's been reported that Chelsea want £25-30m for Hutchinson. Too pricey? Time will tell.



FINANCIAL RULES

Ipswich are backed by wealthy US owners and will see their TV income explode in the Premier League.

Don’t forget though that millions of pounds are currently being invested in major infrastructure projects at Portman Road and Playford Road.

There are financial rules to stay within too. Both Everton and Nottingham Forest were docked points last season after breaching the Premier League’s ‘Profit and Sustainability Rules’ (PSR).

Aston Villa’s proposal to lift the amount of money clubs are currently allowed to lose over a three-year period from £105m to £135m was rejected at the recent AGM, with only one other club in favour, three abstaining and 15 opposed.

This coming season, a UEFA-style squad cost rule (SCR) and 'top-to-bottom anchoring' model (TBA) will also be trialled as new cost control mechanisms.

SCR means Premier League clubs will be able to spend 85% of their commercial, matchday and media revenues, as well as any profit from player trading, on wages, transfer fees and payments to agents.

TBA will limit the amount clubs can spend on first team costs to a multiple of the amount the bottom-placed team receives in centralised media and sponsorship income, with 5:1 the proposed ratio.


ASHTON’S VOW

Looking ahead to the transfer window, Town chief executive Mark Ashton told the EADT and Ipswich Star: “We won’t be wild and reckless, but we’ll also be brave and bold, as we've done from the first day we walked into the club.

"I hear noise sometimes, if we haven’t signed four players in the first week of a transfer window, from people saying ‘he said we were going to brave and we haven’t signed anyone yet’. Well, it’s a long transfer window.

"We’re fairly methodical in what we do. We try and do our homework. We don’t get everything right, but if you look at a percentage we’ve got more right than we’ve got wrong.

“Recruiting at this level is the same thing, just bigger numbers. What that means is you’ve got to get it right. The mistakes have to be fewer. As the numbers get bigger, mistakes can be harder to recover from.

“I always say this; You’re always one bad summer window away from a disastrous season.”



PATIENCE REQUIRED

The Premier League season doesn't kick off for another nine weeks (August 17).

The transfer window is open for 11 weeks (closes at 11pm, August 30).

The European Championships start tonight and runs until July 14. That could slow the market down as clubs wait to see who stands out and, in the meantime, hold onto young players to fulfil pre-season obligations

[shabba]

Oh man I wrote all that up in the post last night, Watson had already done it for me!

Its very interesting for sure, there will be a good number of new faces at the club by September 1st.

Re Pope, I'd LOVE him here but agree he is Newcastles number 1, and they need to be sensible in the transfer market so easy option to keep him as the fee wouldnt be big as he is 32 now. Plus he is on circa 60-100k PW.

For me the most likely transfers out of all the links so fare are Roden, Tanganga and Sessegnon.

[Mauswara]

Thanks hallamblue

You can cut and paste the url of a page into archive.is and it will generate a link that may be easier to read.

https://archive.is/eTbsm

[Bluemike]

Oh man I wrote all that up in the post last night, Watson had already done it for me!

Its very interesting for sure, there will be a good number of new faces at the club by September 1st.

Re Pope, I'd LOVE him here but agree he is Newcastles number 1, and they need to be sensible in the transfer market so easy option to keep him as the fee wouldnt be big as he is 32 now. Plus he is on circa 60-100k PW.

For me the most likely transfers out of all the links so fare are Roden, Tanganga and Sessegnon.

I definitely like the look of Rodon and Tanganga, they are realistic targets too, as is the keeper Rushworth from Brighton, I do hope it's Walton that moves on though if we do recruiting that department.

One other thing that stands out for me and I'd be really disappointed with is the option of Al-Hamadi going on loam, yes he raw and stepping up levels but you only have to look at the likes of Vardy and Kevin Phillips to see lower league players can make the jump, personally I want him here and part of the squad.

[ITFC2024]

Good article on KM's tactics and potential player acquisitions:

https://www.twtd.co.uk/blogs/22011/exce ... ll-aspects

[shabba]

Very good article!

The transfer window has been open for a few hours now, where is the pic of KM and MA with 5 new ballers?

But seriously, would be nice to get a few in before the end of June.

[hallamblue]

Thanks hallamblue

You can cut and paste the url of a page into archive.is and it will generate a link that may be easier to read.

https://archive.is/eTbsm

The only reason I don’t do the link is quite often there’s a paywall in place, so unless you pay so much a month your can’t see it .

[hallamblue]

Oh man I wrote all that up in the post last night, Watson had already done it for me!

Its very interesting for sure, there will be a good number of new faces at the club by September 1st.

Re Pope, I'd LOVE him here but agree he is Newcastles number 1, and they need to be sensible in the transfer market so easy option to keep him as the fee wouldnt be big as he is 32 now. Plus he is on circa 60-100k PW.

For me the most likely transfers out of all the links so fare are Roden, Tanganga and Sessegnon.

I definitely like the look of Rodon and Tanganga, they are realistic targets too, as is the keeper Rushworth from Brighton, I do hope it's Walton that moves on though if we do recruiting that department.

One other thing that stands out for me and I'd be really disappointed with is the option of Al-Hamadi going on loam, yes he raw and stepping up levels but you only have to look at the likes of Vardy and Kevin Phillips to see lower league players can make the jump, personally I want him here and part of the squad.

I’ll put money on it there’s been substantial discussions amongst the coaches, McK and Ashton about the likes of AL-Hamadi and a few others being able to contribute at PL level. A player we do need to sort out is Humphreys , he sat virtually the whole season on the bench. He needs regular games doesn’t he.

[Mauswara]

Thanks hallamblue

You can cut and paste the url of a page into archive.is and it will generate a link that may be easier to read.

https://archive.is/eTbsm

The only reason I don’t do the link is quite often there’s a paywall in place, so unless you pay so much a month your can’t see it .

I use a browser extension to remove paywalls, so I don't realise they're there sometimes if I post a link.

[hallamblue]

What’s this browser extension thingy ? How does someone get it?

[arana peligrosa]

What’s this browser extension thingy ? How does someone get it?

Try some naked pictures of Megan Avalon, lo and behold you got a browser extension.

Crude, but relevant and to the point.

[Bluemike]

Lmao

[hallamblue]

What’s this browser extension thingy ? How does someone get it?

Try some naked pictures of Megan Avalon, lo and behold you got a browser extension.

Crude, but relevant and to the point.

Not sure it'd do much for me ap lol...

[Mauswara]

What’s this browser extension thingy ? How does someone get it? :lol:

https://github.com/bpc-clone/bpc_update ... tag/latest

There are Firefox and Chrome downloads.

I think you can enable EADT access through Options > Opt In > setCookie opt-in enabled: YES

[Charnwood]

Well Emile Smith-Rowe won’t be out first signing after Arsenal put a £30m price tag on his back.

Bringing in a couple of decent Premier League quality players isn’t going to be easy.

[hallamblue]

What’s this browser extension thingy ? How does someone get it?

https://github.com/bpc-clone/bpc_update ... tag/latest

There are Firefox and Chrome downloads.

I think you can enable EADT access through Options > Opt In > setCookie opt-in enabled: YES

Brilliant , thank you so much for this. I’m sure it’ll help others too

[shabba]

Well Emile Smith-Rowe won’t be out first signing after Arsenal put a £30m price tag on his back.

Bringing in a couple of decent Premier League quality players isn’t going to be easy.

Not sure anyone will pay that, maybe with a lot of ‘if’ add ons. He is contracted until 2026 so wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up out on loan instead. If he can get regular game time and does well he could either come back to their squad or increase in value.

[ITFC2024]

Well Emile Smith-Rowe won’t be out first signing after Arsenal put a £30m price tag on his back.

Bringing in a couple of decent Premier League quality players isn’t going to be easy.

Have you seen what Everton are asking for Jarrad Branthwaite?

[Bluemike]

Young defender Leon Elliott has signed a professional deal with Town having left Crystal Palace.

The 17-year-old, who can play anywhere across the defence, announced on Instagram that he has joined the Blues, the first move involving Town of the summer transfer window, which opened yesterday.

“After a hard working six months, delighted to have officially signed my first professional contract at Ipswich Town,” he wrote.

Elliott began a scholarship with the Eagles last summer having come through their youth ranks and was among the players to feature in episode five of the 2022 Channel Four documentary series Football Dreams: The Academy.

[hallamblue]

Excellent news . Definitely a multi pronged approach to recruitment at this club now. I like.

[hallamblue]

Just seen this
€22m striker bid rejected


https://x.com/choria80/status/1801970999501467964

[Cabanas Blue]

Just seen this
€22m striker bid rejected


https://x.com/choria80/status/1801970999501467964

Quick good control looks impressive but it's youtube, but I wouldn't say no.

[Bluemike]

Never heard of him, is this genuine ?

[Denny61]

Well unless Frank and RUNG is talking about him...its not!!! Lol