looks to have a key role to play for Southampton this season, but Ipswich are lining up an ambitious swoop
Despite finishing behind Plymouth Argyle last season in League One, a lot is expected of Ipswich Town in the 2023-24 Championship season.
The Tractor Boys’ style of football under head coach Kieran McKenna and their prolific nature in-front of goal has seen many tip the Suffolk outfit to have a successful return to the second tier of English football.
Sunderland showed last season that it is possible to make the top six on your first season back at the level if you have the right squad put together, but Ipswich haven’t made wholesale changes to the side that got them up from League One in the first place.
George Hirst has signed permanently from Leicester after last season’s loan spell and Jack Taylor has arrived from Peterborough United to bolster McKenna’s midfield, whilst Chelsea youngster Omari Hutchinson will add pace, flair and creativity either in the number 10 role or out wide.
Despite being an ambitious club, Town haven’t exactly splashed the cash as expected, but they could just be waiting for that one game-changing player to become available.
And it appears they have a target in mind and as reported earlier in the summer by Alan Nixon, Southampton’s Adam Armstrong was on their initial list after not finding too much Premier League success with Southampton following his £15 million move from Blackburn
Rovers in 2021.
Armstrong however has started the 2023-24 Championship season in Russell Martin’s starting 11 for the Saints, and he got off the mark against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night by diverting Nathan Tella’s shot in off the top of his head to open the scoring.
How much do Ipswich want to spend on Adam Armstrong?
The 26-year-old though appears to still be heavily on the radar of Ipswich though with less than four weeks remaining of the transfer window, and per Nixon, Town are willing to spend a mammoth £8 million on the pacey attacker.
That would represent a club-record transfer fee spent for Ipswich, but it looks as though they will not get anywhere in their pursuit of Armstrong.
According to Nixon, Martin is planning to keep Armstrong and utilise him heavily as part of Southampton’s promotion push, and with Che Adams linked with a move back to the Premier League it could mean he is first-choice striker for the entirety of the 2023-24 season.
Every player has a price though and Ipswich could look to test Southampton’s resolve, although £8 million would be a significant loss on the deal that was struck for Armstrong in the first place two years ago.
What is Adam Armstrong’s situation at Southampton?
Armstrong failed to make an impact in the Premier League for the south coast club, scoring just four goals in 53 appearances for the Saints.
He was in and out of the starting line-up last year under three different managers but there is still a chance of repaying his transfer fee by scoring goals in the Championship to get his club back to the Premier League.
Having signed a four-year contract in 2021, Armstrong still has two years remaining on his deal at St Mary’s Stadium, so he would not be available for a cut-price fee.
Ipswich can make an offer for the forward, but it’s very likely that they will be turned away in the process.
Every player has a price though and Ipswich could look to test Southampton’s resolve, although £8 million would be a significant loss on the deal that was struck for Armstrong in the first place two years ago.
What is Adam Armstrong’s situation at Southampton?
Armstrong failed to make an impact in the Premier League for the south coast club, scoring just four goals in 53 appearances for the Saints.
He was in and out of the starting line-up last year under three different managers but there is still a chance of repaying his transfer fee by scoring goals in the Championship to get his club back to the Premier League.
Having signed a four-year contract in 2021, Armstrong still has two years remaining on his deal at St Mary’s Stadium, so he would not be available for a cut-price fee.
Ipswich can make an offer for the forward, but it’s very likely that they will be turned away in the process.
If playing a back four, then he has two very good full-backs in Harry Clarke and Leif Davis, but it is in the middle where the Northern Irishman could look to add.
George Edmundson, Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess and Janoi Donacien are McKenna’s options right now, but with just 23 Championship outings between those four – 10 each coming from Edmundson and Donacien and three from Woolfenden – there is a lack of experience at the level.
Of course, Edmundson and Woolfenden have developed into very good defenders but the former struggled with injury last season, so it was a surprise that the Suffolk outfit hadn’t targeted a new centre-back – until this week.
A report from TEAMtalk claimed that McKenna was looking into a deal for free agent defender Axel Tuanzebe, who he will know very well from his time as a first-team coach at Man United when the DR Congo-born player was on the books at Old Trafford.
