Ipswich Town are among the favourites to go down this season but they won’t be leaving the Premier League without a fight, as their massive moves in the transfer market prove.
Despite still being a League One team as recently as 2023, Ipswich Town have splashed the cash in the transfer window in a bid to stay up on their return to the Premier League.
In fact, Ipswich’s £106m worth of summer signings gave them the second-highest net spend in the whole of the top flight, second only to Brighton.
By the time deadline day had finally passed, Kieran McKenna had added 12 new players to his squad with the likes of Liam Delap, Jack Clarke, Ari Muric, Omari Hutchinson and Jacob Greaves all arriving for significant fees.
Such a massive influx of players can often disrupt squads, especially ones who have just arrived in the Premier League, with the players who achieved promotion disregarded for the sparkly new toys.
However, McKenna insists that is not the case at Portman Road and that the new players have been welcomed with open arms.
Kieran McKenna says Ipswich squad ‘wanted’ new signings
Though some of Ipswich’s back-to-back promotion heroes may now have to settle for a seat on the bench, McKenna says everyone who has stayed at the club wanted to be there and to see ‘ambitious’ signings made.
He said, via the East Anglian Daily Times: “It’s not been too difficult. I think every individual situation is different.
“In our position, every player that is here wants to be here. Nobody wants to move, everybody is so excited to be here and focused on the next session and trying to make an impact.
“It’s probably more difficult if you have squad where players are positively looking to move on, which certainly wasn’t the case with any individual here.
“I don’t think it’s been a big problem. New players coming in can create a distraction, but I don’t think that’s been the case here.
“I think the group of players we have here all wanted the group to get strengthened. They wanted help and support over the course of the season. They wanted the club to be ambitious.
“They’ve welcomed the players really, really well as they’ve come in. When you bring in good characters, as we have done, that integration tends to be a lot smoother.
“I don’t think we’ve had too much distraction. It’s just a matter of time and work now. That’s what we’ll have to utilise to the maximum effect over the next weeks and months.”
It needs to click quickly for Ipswich
The Tractor Boys were handed an incredibly tough introduction to the Premier League with their opening matches coming against Liverpool and Manchester City.
It’s no surprise they lost both of them but they did get their first point on the board in a 1-1 draw with Fulham before the break.
Ipswich have looked impressive at points in all their games but things will have to click quickly as a run of some very winnable fixtures approaches.
It’s a tough trip to Brighton first up on Saturday and there is also a match against Aston Villa at the end of the month but Ipswich face fellow promoted sides Southampton and Leicester in their next seven games as well as another relegation candidate in Everton.
A decent helping of points will have to be picked up across those matches to ensure they don’t get swamped into the relegation battle early and that means the new players must bed in as quickly as possible.
Delap and Sammie Szmodics have already got their first goals, at least, but the rest may still need time to settle and grow partnerships with their new teammates.
The sooner that happens, the better Ipswich’s chances become.
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