Ipswich Town can now fully begin their preparations for life back in the Premier League after sealing automatic promotion on the final day of the regular Championship season.
Many felt it would be a case of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’ for the Tractor Boys in terms of wrapping up their immediate top-flight return given the superior advantage they held in terms of both points and goal difference over Millwall and Middlesbrough heading into the last day.
A third promotion in four years was emphatically rubber-stamped with a 3-0 victory over mid-table Queens Park Rangers at Portman Road courtesy of goals from George Hirst, Jaden Philogene and Kasey McAteer, and now the hard work is set to begin in terms of attracting a higher calibre of players to the Suffolk club as they look to consolidate their position back in the Premier League.
Last season, Town were relegated comprehensively alongside Leicester City and Southampton despite the standout season of current Chelsea forward, Liam Delap, in particular, in front of goal.
However, whilst they have ended the current season as the third-highest scorers in the Championship with 80 strikes from 46 games, relying on a clinical centre-forward has been a problem for McKenna at times, even though the aforementioned Hirst ended the campaign on double-figures.
They have also been presented with a dilemma through a reported agreement with Dutch giants, Ajax, which meant that Chuba Akpom’s loan deal from the Johan Cruyff Arena was to be turned permanent for £7m in the event of promotion.
But, it’s fair to say that the 30-year-old hasn’t hit it off for the Blues, and Football League World’s Ipswich Town fan pundit, Adam Wilkin, believes he may be moved on rather quickly.
Just three seasons ago, the former Arsenal man won the Championship’s Golden Boot after hitting the back of the net 28 times in 38 regular season outings for Middlesbrough, before enduring mixed fortunes in Amsterdam.
Indeed, the aforementioned £7m deal was obligatory, meaning it is set to come out of Town’s coffers as a result of their on-pitch success, even though Akpom has only scored twice in 30 league appearances, with none of those coming from the starting lineup since New Year’s Day.
As such, Wilkin believes a potential scenario could be that Town loan out the forward in the upcoming summer window.
“Akpom’s had a strange career, and I think this loan move has been just another weird step,” he told FLW.
“Whether Birmingham would be in for him, considering we stole him from under their noses, that could be an option.
“He’s not really been given the opportunities this season, and when he has, he’s not overly delivered,” Wilkin added.
“He’s scored a couple of goals, and then he’s had injuries, so I don’t think he’s one of those I see coming in and being a Premier League player.
“I’m not sure what the terms of the deal are. But, if it’s a long-term deal, maybe you would look to loan him out next season and see whether you’re in the Premier League or Championship the season after and go from there and hope he has a good season to get his value back up.
Ipswich fans, would you sell or loan out Chuba Akpom as a result of the £7m obligation-to-buy with Ajax after promotion? Comment below!
Wilkin concluded: “It was a punt, but a punt that has failed, really.”
Chuba Akpom would struggle for minutes with Ipswich Town in the Premier League
As Wilkin alluded to, there was a long-standing transfer saga involving Ipswich and Birmingham for Akpom’s services last August, but the eventual winners of said battle haven’t exactly succeeded overall on this front given a lack of output and minutes.
Based on current form, it is hard to see how the forward would garner any form of minutes in the Premier League, having been limited to substitute appearances in the second tier, with both of his strikes in the league coming in November and January against Hull City and Oxford United respectively.
Therefore, a loan move could be the best decision for all involved at this particular moment in order for the Londoner to get his career back on track once more.