Ipswich Town have lost no key players from their promotion-winning squad. Stuart Watson looks at how their summer of stability compares to Championship rivals.
BEDDED IN BOSS
Kieran McKenna, linked to vacancies at Celtic and Leicester early in the summer, signed a new four-year contract on June 16.
The Northern Irishman, who took charge in December 2021, is the sixth longest-serving manager in the division.
Seven Championship clubs – Cardiff, Leeds, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Swansea and Watford – have all started the 2023/24 campaign with new men at the helm.
KEEPING THE CORE
League One golden boot winner Conor Chaplin and influential midfielder Massimo Luongo also signed new contracts at Portman Road during the off-season.
Striker George Hirst, who made a big impact as a Leicester loanee in the second half of the campaign, subsequently signed on a permanent basis.
A SQUAD TIDY UP
Altogether, 11 senior players have left Portman Road this summer but not one of them can be described as having played a key role last season.
Tyreece John-Jules, back at parent club Arsenal, had the biggest on-field impact out those who have departed – he scored three goals from eight starts and nine sub appearances in the league before having his campaign cut short by injuries.
The full list of those that have gone out the exit door so far this summer is as follows: Joel Coleman (Bolton, free), Kane Vincent-Young (Wycombe, free), Matt Penney (released), Richard Keogh (Wycombe, free), Rekeem Harper (contract terminated, signed for Burton), Gassan Ahadme (Cambridge, loan), Corrie Ndaba (Kilmarnock, loan), Idris El Mizouni (Leyton Orient, loan), Panutche Camara (Charlton, loan), Joe Pigott (contract terminated, signed for Leyton Orient) and John-Jules (Arsenal loan expired).
TURNOVER STATS
Combined, those aforementioned 11 players contributed 14 league starts in 2022/23 (just 3% of Town’s total) and three league goals (again, just 3%).
Those are ridiculously low numbers. For context, here’s the current Championship player turnover league table for the summer of 2023:
* All stats refer to league only.
1 Birmingham: Starts lost: 296 (58%), Goals lost: 26 (55%)
2 Coventry: Starts lost: 236 (47%). Goals lost: 33 (57%)
3 Watford: Starts lost: 219 (43%), Goals lost: 35 (63%)
4 Leeds: Starts lost: 209 (43%), Goals lost: 24 (50%)
5 Stoke: Starts lost: 201 (40%), Goals lost: 20 (36%)
6 Rotherham: Starts lost: 187 (37%), Goals lost: 19 (39%)
7 QPR: Starts lost: 166 (33%), Goals lost: 12 (27%)
8 Southampton: Starts lost: 132 (32%), Goals lost: 13 (36%)
9 Blackburn: Starts lost: 150 (30%), Goals lost: 19 (37%)
10 Plymouth: Starts lost: 147 (29%), Goals lost: 17 (21%)
11 Middlesbrough: Starts lost: 143 (28%), Goals lost: 18 (21%)
12 Leicester: Starts lost: 108 (26%), Goals lost: 29 (57%)
13 Norwich: Starts lost: 130 (26%), Goals lost: 20 (35%)
14 Swansea: Starts lost: 129 (25%), Goals lost: 13 (19%)
15 Cardiff: Starts lost: 112 (22%), Goals lost: 20 (37%)
16 Preston: Starts lost: 112 (22%), Goals lost: 13 (29%)
17 Huddersfield: Starts lost: 80 (16%), Goals lost: 8 (17%)
18 Millwall: Starts lost: 83 (16%), Goals lost: 7 (12%)
19 Hull City: Starts lost: 83 (16%), Goals lost: 6 (12%)
20 Sheffield Wednesday: Starts lost: 72 (14%), Goals lost: 4 (5%)
21 Bristol City: Starts lost: 69 (14%), Goals lost: 1 (2%)
22 Sunderland: Starts lost: 61 (12%), Goals lost: 17 (25%)
23 West Brom: Starts lost: 53 (10%), Goals lost: 5 (8%)
24 IPSWICH: Starts lost: 14 (3%), Goals lost: 3 (3%)
KEY EXITS ACROSS LEAGUE
The vast majority of Championship clubs have seen at least one star man depart this summer.
There’s been a mass exodus at the teams who fell through the Premier League trap door.
Leeds have seen Jack Harrison, Marc Roca, Brenden Aaronson, Rodrigo and Rasmus Kristensen depart for top-tier clubs across the globe. They might yet see Tyler Adams, Willy Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra do the same.
Leicester have lost Harvey Barnes (Newcastle, £38m), James Maddison (Tottenham, £40m) and Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa, free). Southampton, most notably, have sold James Ward-Prowse (West Ham, £30m).
Viktor Gyokeres provided 21 goals and 10 assists for Coventry on their way to the Championship Play-Off Final. The Swedish striker, named in the official Team of the Season, was sold to Sporting Lisbon for £18.5m. Midfielder Gustavo Hamer (9G 10A) was also sold to Sheffield United for £15m.
Middlesbrough are reportedly on the verge of selling 29-goal striker Chuba Akpom to Ajax for £12m. That will be a major blow for a side that finished fourth last season.
Sunderland saw star attacker Amad Diallo return to parent club Manchester United. He scored 14 goals last season, was among the nominees for EFL Young Player of the Year and completed more dribbles than any other player in the division.
Ben Brereton Diaz top-scored for Blackburn with 16 goals across all competitions. The Chilean international moved to Villarreal at the end of his contract.
Millwall’s biggest loss so far is seeing centre-back Charlie Cresswell go back to parent club Leeds. They have reportedly put a £15m price tag on Player of the Year Zian Fleming admits interest from the likes of Lazio, Sevilla, Burnley and Roma.
West Brom sold Republic of Ireland international defender Dara O’Shea to newly-promoted Burnley for £7m. It looks like winger Grady Diangana could follow out the door.
Swansea were powerless to prevent left-back Ryan Manning running down his contract and signing for Southampton. He provided 10 assists last season, 108 key passes and was named in the Team of the Year. There’s also real uncertainty surrounding the future of goal machine Joel Piroe at the Welsh club too.
Watford sold exciting Brazilian Joao Pedro to Brighton for £30m - he was named Championship Player of the Month on three occasions last season. Striker Ismaila Sarr (10G, 7A) also went to Marseille for £9.5m. Hamza Choudhury and Keinan Davis were also big losses at Vicarage Road after their loans expired.
Preston lost several influential loan players, including Álvaro Fernández, Tom Cannon and Troy Parrott, while Norwich saw club legend striker Teemu Pukki leave at the end of his contract and sold right-back Max Aarons to Bournemouth for £7m.
Alex Scott was named EFL Young Player of the Year following an outstanding season for Bristol City. The 19-year-old was sold to Bournemouth for £25m.
Stoke have sold nine-goal topscorer Jacob Brown to newly-promoted Premier League club Luton and lost influential Southampton loanee Will Smallbone.
Arsenal loanee Auston Trusty was named Birmingham’s Player of the Year last season. The USA centre-back is now at Sheffield United.
Rotherham saw speedy winger Chiedozie Ogbene (8G, 4A) join Luton at the end of his contract, while QPR sold centre-back Rob Dickie to Bristol City for £1m and keeper Seny Dieng to Middlesbrough.
Jaden Philogene was named Cardiff’s Young Player of the Year. The striker is now back at parent club Aston Villa.
Plymouth may have re-signed loan trio Bali Mumba, Margan Whittaker and Finn Azaz, but they have lost 20 goals in the departures of Niall Ennis and Sam Cosgrove.
RECENT HISTORY
Losing players isn’t always a bad thing, of course. Sometimes clubs need a big reset. Sometimes a complete rebuild pays off.
It's important to get the housekeeping done early if that's to be the case though. Leicester look to have done that this summer and reinvested wisely.
A high squad turnover, if chaotic and delayed, can be highly disruptive though. We only need to look at Ipswich’s recent history for examples of that.
Paul Hurst tried to do too much too soon in the summer of 2018. Town lost 41 goals from their squad with the departures of Martyn Waghorn, David McGoldrick, Joe Garner and Bersant Celina, also selling key defender Adam Webster. Trying to replace all of them on a budget backfired and relegation followed.
Paul Cook blew up the squad again in the ‘Demolition Man’ summer of 2021. After making 19 signings, Town got off to a stuttering start. There was lots of talk about things ‘needing time to gel’. Cook ultimately paid the price.
A NICE POSITION
More big names will depart Championship clubs between now and the window closing on September 1.
Ipswich, meanwhile, are in an enviable position where they are under no pressure to cash in on any of their key assets.
The only exits likely at Portman Road are for fringe players such as Kyle Edwards, Cameron Humphreys, Elkan Baggott and Nick Hayes.
Speaking back in June, Town chief executive Mark Ashton said: “I think our stability is a differentiator. I just think it’s going to be our key advantage.”
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