Ipswich chief reveals ‘aggressive’ transfer strategy as two signings already made amid £140m spree plan

Ipswich Town have booked their place back in the Premier League and their chairman has some exciting transfer plans in place.

The Tractor Boys ended a 22-year wait for top-flight football in 2024, but were relegated straight back down to the Championship last season.

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However, led by Kieran McKenna, they instantly bounced back this season, achieving a third promotion in the last four years.

It means Ipswich will be back in the big time next term and they’ll hope for a better outcome than the last time they were promoted.

McKenna’s side spent around £140million on their return to the Premier League, but only won four of their 38 matches as they finished second from bottom in the top flight.

But this time around, chairman Mark Ashton believes the club are very well prepared and know what is needed to stay up.

When asked whether he thinks Ipswich can compete in the Premier League this time around, Ashton told talkSPORT’s White and Jordan: “The Championship is brutal, but the Premier League is the best and toughest league in the world for a reason.

“It won’t be easy, but I think you have to look at clubs like Brentford, Brighton, what Sunderland have done this year, Leeds have done, Nottingham Forest have done, that does give you hope.

“I think we’ll have to take a different approach to it this year, particularly around player and talent recruitment.

“But we’ll be front-footed, investors have already said they want to back to the hilt and we’ll go again.”

Ashton then went on to explain the ‘front-footed’ approach that Ipswich are going to take in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Indeed, they’ve already completed two permanent signings this summer in the form of defender Cedric Kirpe and former Arsenal forward Chuba Akpom.

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Ashton was reminded of the club’s huge spending last time they were promoted and admitted they will likely be doing so again.

“That was part of our plan, we spent a substantial amount of money when we went up,” the Tractor Boys chief said.

“But also when we were relegated, we sold around £80-90million worth of assets, so we’ve traded really well.

“But yeah, we’ll be aggressive, you’ve got to be, you’ve got to be front-footed, but you’ve got to get the right talent.

“You’re fishing in a very small pond, it’s not easy, and that’s why it’s the best league in the world.

“We’ve got a brand-new recruitment department, we use data, but we’re not Moneyball, we don’t recruit players just off data, we add it to balance between the objective and the subjective.”

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Ready for the challenge

talkSPORT host and ex-Crystal Palace owner, Simon Jordan, believes Ipswich can stay up in the Premier League if they’ve learnt their lessons from their relegation in the 2024/25 season.

Jordan said: “Ipswich is a well-run football club… if you have good leadership and a good manager, then you have a perfect set-up.

“They’ll go back into the Premier League with people expecting them to come back down again, and it’s upon Mark and Kieran to pick up the lessons from the first time and see if they can bridge the gap from what they didn’t do the first time around.”

Ashton then weighed in on Jordan’s thoughts and agreed with them, laying out the changes that have been made over the last year.

He explained: “One of the biggest challenges last time around was that the club had been out of the Premier League for 20+ years.

“We only had one year in the Championship after promotion from League One, the training ground wasn’t built, commercial revenues weren’t strong enough, the whole infrastructure of the club wasn’t ready.

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“But whilst we’re not perfect now, the new training ground opens in a few weeks time, commercial revenues are strong, recruitment is far stronger, we’ve invested in all areas of the club, whether that’s performance, medical, data.

“It will be tough, but we have a great manager who has done incredible things… we also have an incredible backroom staff, a team behind the team, professional in performance analysis.”

“As a club, we’re ready, but ultimately you’ve got to recruit the right players and that’s always the biggest challenge,” Ashton finished.

Will McKenna be staying at the club?

As well as talk of bringing players to the club, Ipswich chairman Ashton also discussed potential exits from Portman Road.

And the biggest of those would be manager McKenna, who continues to attract interest from other clubs following his success.

However, as things stand, it appears he’s going nowhere.

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“Success brings challenges,” Ashton admitted. “When we got promoted last time, there was a hell of a lot of noise around our manager and rightly so.

“We had back-to-back promotions, he’d done really well and he’s done really well again.

“I think success will always bring that noise, but we get on, we talk every day, we’re under no illusions that there’ll be noise around the manager, players, staff, executives.

“But we’re well set to take this club forward.”

When pressed on whether McKenna will definitely be staying, Ashton was strong in his answer on the boss’ future.

“In my mind, yes [he’ll be staying],” he said. “I’ve got no reason to tell you anything different… we’re already starting to make plans.”