The January transfer window closed at 11pm last night. STUART WATSON takes a look Kieran McKenna's squad for the remainder of the campaign.
EARLY BUSINESS
While several of their League One promotion rivals were scrambling to make late additions yesterday, Ipswich Town could sit back and relax.
That's because some long-term ground work by Blues chief executive Mark Ashton had enabled the club to deliver on manager Kieran McKenna's desire for business to be done early in 2023.
The first three signings arrived between January 5-9, with the last deal being completed on January 19.
Don't underestimate how difficult that is to do.
"We’ve been preparing as well as we can but a lot of things are out of your control," explained McKenna towards the end of 2022.
"A World Cup and a winter break for teams in the top two divisions above you creates a lot more uncertainty in the market."
WINDOW RECAP
January 5: Massimo Luongo.
With Dominic Ball and Panutche Camara out for the season, McKenna turned to his old Manchester United colleague Michael Carrick for a favour.
Massimo Luongo came in on trial from Middlesbrough prior to Christmas. After taking a good look at the Australian, the Blues opted to sign him on a short-term deal until the end of the season once he became a free agent.
Being able to land a 43-cap international with almost 200 Championship appearances to his name as a gap-plugger shows where the club is at.
January 8: George Hirst.
The one that got away last summer was finally hooked.
Hirst bagged 13 goals in League One for Portsmouth during the second half of last season. He went to Championship club Blackburn as a result.
A shortage of game-time for Rovers saw the 23-year-old recalled and sent to Town.
January 9: Nathan Broadhead.
The most expensive addirion of the Gamechanger era yet.
Town shelled out £1.5m to land the 24-year-old forward from Everton.
He scored 10 league goals for a Sunderland side that won League One promotion via the play-offs last season and was winning admirers at Championship club Wigan during the first half of this campaign.
January 19: Harry Clarke.
The icing on the cake.
Following on from Leif Davis (£1.2m, Leeds) and Broadhead, Clarke became the third seven-figure signing in six months.
The versatile defender was playing regularly in the Championship for Stoke, but Arsenal accepted a bid and the ambitious 21-year-old was persuaded to drop down a division and return to his boyhood club.
SQUAD RULES
Town must now submit their new 22-man squad list to the EFL.
Goalkeepers and players who were under the age of 21 at the start of 2022 do not count towards the limit.
Town had registered 20 players at the end of the summer window. Luongo, Hirst and Broadhead will all need to be added to that list.
But, with Gassan Ahadme now back at Burton on loan, a senior spot has been freed up. That means Town hit the 22-man mark without any players needing to be deregistered for the second half of the campaign.
Dominic Ball was a potential candidate after suffering a knee injury which could end his season.
LOAN WATCH
Rekeem Harper (Exeter), Idris El Mizouni (Leyton Orient) and Joe Pigott (Portsmouth) remain at the clubs they started the season on loan at.
Matt Penney is now at Charlton on loan after his impressive six-month spell at Motherwell came to an end.
Elkan Baggott was recalled from League Two strugglers Gillingham and is now at League One side Cheltenham.
Corrie Ndaba was recalled from League One strugglers Burton and is now at 17th-place Fleetwood.
Ahadme is back at Burton, the club who Town signed him from last August.
Tete Yengi has joined League Two promotion-hopefuls Northampton Town, while Edwin Agbaje has joined National League side Yeovil for his first loan.
SQUAD DEPTH
McKenna now has 23 fit senior outfield players to call upon. Arsenal loanee Tyreece John-Jules could be back in action towards the end of February too.
There are at least two players of very similar quality for every position now. There's a good amount of variety when it comes to age and attributes. Plenty are versatile.
GK: Walton, Hladky and Coleman; RB: Clarke, Donacien and Vincent-Young; CB: Woolfenden, Edmundson, Burgess and Keogh; LB: Davis and Leigh; CM: Morsy, Evans, Humphreys and Luongo; RW: Burns, Jackson and Edwards; AMC: Chaplin and Aluko; LW: Broadhead and Harness; ST: Ladapo, Hirst and John-Jules.
VERDICT
All four new additions bring something different and should help raise the levels of those around them.
Luongo's presence takes the pressure off a young Cameron Humphreys and adds some experience to the dressing room.
Clarke adds passion, physicality and a forward thrust to the defence. Broadhead brings a much-needed directness to the deep-lying attack. Hirst's running in behind is an alternative weapon to Freddie Ladapo's link play.
No doubt about it, this is a power-packed squad for the third-tier of English football.
It's cost close to £10m in transfer fees to assemble. It boasts more than 1,500 Championship appearances across the combined CVs. Several have tasted promotion in the past.
It's up to the players to go and deliver now.
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