Ipswich Town transfer talk - A Juventus defender and TWO Brazilians!

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0:38Ross Halls:Hello everybody, it's me Roscoe and welcome to our latest episode of the Kings of Anglia Transfer Talk series, where you keep up to speed on all the latest links and rumours surrounding the Blues. And as standard, I'm joined by Alex Jones to our Transfer Guru to sort of let us know the fact and fiction of all the rumours out there. AJ my friend, how are you? I'm good thanks yeah, nice weather out weekend's coming up, I'm off next week so I'm interested to see how you're going to fill the gap without me, are we going to have the fabled Stuart Watson on transfer talk, that would be good fun I'll just get big fab on I mean I would be I would be fully, I thought you meant Fabio Wardley the first son, which probably would have been more entertaining to be honest I would more, I'd be closer to wanting to see what Fabio Wardley's take on all the transfer rumours would be.

1:34But yes, either way.

1:36Ross Halls:To be fair, he has a better connection to Mark Ashton. So I'm sure, yeah, I'd just go, Fab, let me know what big Mark's got to say. He's obviously the one who's in the know. He might be playing a part. Huno, do you remember it was reported and we had an idea of who it was, who in the last Premier League season, when there were kind of negotiations about signing and joining Ipswich, was helped kind of, it turned out they were a big Ed Sheeran fan anyway, basically is what I'm trying to say. And when Mark Ashton found this out during the negotiations face-to-face, he pulled out his phone and FaceTimed Ed Sheeran, who was about to go on stage to do his Eros tour thing with Taylor Swift and just got whoever it was.

2:27I think we could say, I'm not actually 100 % sure, but it was one of Sam's comics or Liam DeLapp. I'm not sure when you actually look at the timings of it. But yeah, anyway, I digress. Yeah, when you look at that. But yeah, and he got Ed Sheeran to give him a little message. so maybe are there any football fans who are massive fans of Fabio, sorry, any football players who are massive fans of Fabio Wardley and just sat down in the negotiation room and you hear Mark Ashton pull out his phone and you get a little FaceTime message from Fab. That would be great. I doubt it as much. Sorry, Fab, maybe.

3:03But yeah, maybe Ed Sheeran is going to be the better negotiator in that sense.

3:08Ross Halls:I bet that's the big thing because, of course, we've got that connection with Ed Sheeran. I'm sure that's a jokely thing. like, what do you sing at my wedding? And blah, blah, blah. So I'm sure that is a bit of a talking point in the, you know, when they want to be linked. So we've got obviously plenty of players to get through, AJ. It's been a busy week of transfer. Of course, it's the first week of the Gary O 'Neill era in the books. So there's plenty of players that have been linked already. And there's a lot of players from France. But we're going to start off with a Stutt Watson exclusive.

3:37Ross Halls:And I assume I'm going to be joined by Stu next week on the transfer talk. As we said, we're going to try to keep these as consistent as possible. So far, AJ, we've done pretty well. Every week on a Friday or Saturday, this has dropped. But yes, Stu chucked a nice litter exclusive on two players, one a striker, one a full-back, one who's playing for Juventus and one who's just got relegated to West Ham but has been linked before. And that is Callum Wilson and Lloyd Kelly, who is formerly of Bournemouth and Newcastle. AJ, let us know a little bit more on these two players. Yeah, let's start off with the Callum Wilson one, because that's one that we've known about for a little while.

4:18First kind of got linked in January when it was looking like Wilson was going to be on the way out of West Ham. Wasn't really working that well with Nuno. There were talks about a mutual contract termination with his deal set to end this summer. And then with a bit of a shortage of options away at Tottenham, he got brought on by Nuno and he went and scored the winner. And West Ham were actually like, oh, you know what? we better keep this guy. He looks quite good. So he stuck around. He didn't get the move to Ipswich or to anywhere else in January. And of course, West Ham have now been relegated.

4:53And we don't know what their situation is going to look like. Plenty of different movements. Mateus Fernandes went for 85 million yesterday. That's a lot of money. Anyway, yeah, we need to see what the situation is with Callum Wilson. It's understood he's been offered a new deal to stay at West Ham in the championship, but whether he feels that he's working well enough with Nuno, which I think has been questioned, let's say, and whether he might fancy himself back into the Premier League, that's another matter. Either way, Ipswich are ready to step up a move for him and looking to kind of push on with that.

5:31Clearly someone that they do like and do think would fit under Gary O 'Neill's profile. Now, the problem with that is that there's a lot of competition. Not only is that offer of a new deal on the table for him to stay at West Ham, we've also got Brentford flying for him. We've also got Coventry in the race as well. And those two options would stand out as well for different reasons. Coventry, Boyhood Club, that's where he started his career. And at 34 as well, feels like a nice full circle moment. And The Athletic have reported that Brentford have since opened negotiations about a potential deal for Callum Wilson.

6:08so this wouldn't be an easy one to do because there's a lot of interest in him but um you can see why he's like with that experience being a former england international having got a decent return i don't think that he would necessarily be looked at as the first choice striker i wouldn't necessarily say that'd be the case at any of the clubs that have been linked with him so far and possibly not even at west ham but um yeah interesting to see that and one to follow I think he'll end up back into the Premier League but which one of those three I'm not too sure Lloyd Kelly let's crack on with him then fabulous player really good player was excellent at Bournemouth carried that on at Newcastle I think maybe the move to Juventus came as a little bit of a surprise even though he had been impressive and he really struggled at first actually when you look at his early performances over in Syria I think he was kind of seen as a bit of a joke figure by some of their fans and the way that he's turned things around in his career over in Turin has been really impressive, and he's been one of their top performers, but definitely looks like he could be on the move this summer.

7:14He's someone who's worked with Gary O 'Neill before at Bournemouth. He had five years there from 2019 to 2024 before the season at Newcastle, and then joining Juventus permanently after a loan spell. Former England under-21s national, now 27. He's a left-footed centre-back, but got a bit of height on him as well, 6 '3". came through Bristol City's academy and someone who's really highly rated. I think that he might still fancy his chances of being someone who could be towards the England squad as well if he can really kick on. And this would be a huge move for Ipswich. You can see, again, why he's someone that Ipswich would like, especially with the links with Gary O 'Neill, having worked with him before.

7:55But once again, I think this would be a tricky deal to get done with the fact he's playing for a team who are one of the heavyweights in Europe already. You'd imagine that would require a big fee. And the fact that there will be other teams that will be after him as an English player, as someone who's had a lot of experience in the Premier League and could be on the move from Juventus. So yeah, let's keep an eye on those two. But two really interesting names that Ipswich are interested in. And I think if either of those joins, fans will be pretty excited about that.

8:26Ross Halls:Yeah, my snap thoughts. Firstly, on Callum Wilson, I think he would be a solid sort of backup cup, maybe even third choice, which I don't think he would want because I think we, of course, need that sexy number nine striker that's going to hopefully score us the goal, like a Liam De Lapp style player. And then you obviously still got George Hurst in the building, going to be interesting to see what his future holds, especially now with a new manager. But yeah, Callum Wilson would be a solid player. But then once again, it's not a long-term solution, but he's definitely someone who can do a job.

8:56Ross Halls:Lloyd Kelly, it's just mad that we could potentially sign a player from Juventus. I know he's obviously an Englishman, he's played in the Premier League before. But when I saw that link and when Stu did that story, I was like, I'll take a bit of Lloyd Kelly. So we shall watch the space on those two. Let's talk about some Brazilians, AJ, because Town have never had a Brazilian before. We've had South American players through the years. But yeah, when you sort of go through the list of South American countries, Brazil, we haven't gone and tacked that market yet. I think we have been linked with some Brazilians in the past, but we've been linked with two Brazilians this week.

9:30Ross Halls:I'll let you discuss them. They're both playing in France. One is actually a Brazilian international. And unfortunately, he's not at the World Cup because he's had some injury problems. But yeah, let us know on the two Brazilians, my friend. One a striker, one a centre-back. Yeah, interesting, this one. And it's also quite interesting that there are two clubs really pictured in the race for these two. And they're the same in both situations. And also, both are promoted from the championship. last year. Let's start with Alexandro, who was linked by Fabrizio Romano at the start of this week, saying that talks have been opened about a potential deal.

10:11Looks like that would be in the region of€30 million. That would be just under £26 million. But the Ipswich do face competition from another of other clubs who are keen on him. Had a really interesting career so far. He's been a bit of a late bloomer. He came through Flamengo's academy, then was at Preense at senior level, and then had spent some time in Portugal with Amora and Chavez, and then made the move to France a few years ago. Again, probably quite late in his career to make that kind of step up and then be considered for the Brazilian national team. But his performances for Lille have been really, really impressive, and you can see why Ipswich would like him.

10:55he's naturally left footed but can be excellent with both from what i've seen of him he likes to kind of have this really aggressive style of play from the back the way that he brings the ball into midfield with the ball at his feet i think he would be an excellent centre back i think that he's got the right physical profile he's the kind of player that definitely pre-injuries you were seeing linked with arsenal i believe and teams of that ilk um and it's been a little harder for him he got his first brazil call up in september i believe it's three caps he's got for them now um but it's been a hard year for him he came back and he's had thigh and calf injuries that kept him out for most of last season only played nine league and matches for lille uh last season so it has been really difficult for him but he's not an injury prone player per se he's just someone that's been really unfortunate in the last year and um with all of those attributes would be an excellent signing.

11:53I do think that there's a good chance that some real top-end clubs would come sniffing if they can back his injury record. But yeah, I really like him. What do you want to say? Come on, Ross. What are you thinking on him?

12:04Ross Halls:Of course, when he got links in the group chat, he's going to now call you Alexandro for the rest of it. And I was going to say, have you seen those AI clips, which I sometimes don't like to see, but where they change, like, I don't know, Kylian Mbappe or... Yeah. Kevin De Bruyne, where they just changed what they would be called in different nations. And, you know, it's just funny. So, yeah, I'm just trying to now think. That would be my Brazilian name, I feel. It definitely would be that. Yeah. And now the latest that we've seen from him is, of course, I mentioned about the other clubs interested.

12:43Sky this morning actually had put out a bit of an update saying that one of those clubs is Hull City. and that leads on really nicely as well to Emerson. And Emerson, I believe, is a top target for the Tigers. They've already had a bid rejected for him, £17.3 million according to Sky. They've returned with another offer today. That's believed to be£22.3 million as the offer for this Brazilian striker, Emerson, with two Ns at the end, not like, say, Emerson who used to be at Chelsea and West Ham. two ends, which is an interesting one. Yeah, an interesting player at the same time. He's someone who moved to France from Goztepe in Turkey, having previously been at Atletico Paranense.

13:34I probably butchered that, but that's just how it looks when I read it. When he was over in Brazil, and he's had a bit of an interesting background when he's been over in France. Six goals, two assists. He hasn't been that much of a regular starter. He's had 19 starts, eight cameo appearances over there, but he's 21. And again, you can see why there's a lot of teams that like him, and he especially fits the mould of the kind of newly promoted club. You can see why it's Hull and Ipswich, let's put it that way, where he's got so much room for development. He's got good height, but he's not this kind of target man, hold the ball up.

14:17He runs the channels very well. He's surprisingly mobile. He's not had loads to work off when he's worked as a striker at Toulouse, but he's been pretty clinical in those moments that we've seen from him. And I think that it's easy to look at players and say, X goals, X assists, good striker, bad striker. But it's also about the other aspects of their game, how they'll transition, how they'll develop, how they'll adapt to the Premier League. And I think he would be one that would. But certainly probably I'd say on the riskier side of things, He's not maybe one that I would want as the starting number nine for Ipswich next year.

14:51And it's interesting now to see how hard Hull are going to push here because 22 million maybe in modern football isn't that much. But if Ipswich were to bid that, it would break the transfer record. So, yeah, let's wait and see on that one. But, yeah, Ipswich apparently also in for Emerson, along with Alexandro rivaling Hull City for both.

15:13Ross Halls:Yeah, he's one of those you put in the hidden gems sort of folder where you're like, oh, could be a risk but then could do something incredible. There's been a few sort of strikers at some Premier League clubs to sign and they've gone on to be fantastic. One thing as well, when I was reading your piece when you did the story, one of his goals last season was against Gary O 'Neill's Stragsborg side, scoring out the winner there. So obviously Gary O 'Neill will know a bit about him, especially when he's been managing in France. and sort of finishing the French league connections. He's not a Brazilian goalkeeper, but he's another goalkeeper on the list.

15:50Ross Halls:Not another one, but a player who's also playing for Toulouse, that's his hometown club. And yeah, he's only 21 as well. Yeah, let us know who he is, my friend. Yeah, really highly rated goalkeeper, this one. Guillaume Geste, I believe it would be pronounced in French. another player from Toulouse after Emerson there's so many nothing to lose puns you can have on this one but anyway, ignoring that one this is a player who's been highly rated for a long long time and the French production line of young goalkeepers has been really good when you look at what they've brought out some who've really made it well maybe others who haven't had it and Guillaume Rester is one who I think there's the belief he can go on and be that top, top goalkeeper.

16:40He's only 21 years old. He spent his entire career at his boyhood club at Toulouse, first team debut in 2023. He's played at Anfield in the Europa League. He's played regularly in Ligue 1, more than 100 senior appearances. He started 34 Ligue 1 matches last year, nine clean sheets in that time. Really highly rated and one who I think will be a future France number one, to be honest with how that's looking. This is now the interesting point with Ipswich being linked as well. He's been linked with a move to town by L 'Equipe, who have also credited Aston Villa and Napoli as interested parties in him.

17:26Already you can see from the fact it's those two clubs as to what the competition would be like if there is genuine Ipswich interest from that side in the 21-year-old. Two massive football clubs playing in, I think both are playing in Europe next year, aren't they? Villa Champions League football. Of course, it's been said that they've not had an offer to lose yet. So they will consider a bid, but they're looking at one that, well, the quote from L 'Equipe is, it would not be considered if the first digit of the offer begins with a one. So you're looking at probably 20 million euros as the minimum point there, which would be about 17 million pounds.

18:12Then you've also got to factor in the competition for someone like him. I think this would be a really tough deal to do. But the fact, again, that we're seeing Ipswich linked with this kind of profile of a player who I think will be one of the best goalkeepers in the world going forward, quite possibly, with what he's able to do at this age. Yeah, really exciting.

18:32Ross Halls:Yeah, I've just seen his stats now. Over 100 games at the age of just 21. I think he's only just turned 21. I think in March was his birthday. So that age is doing pretty well. And for his hometown club as well, I'm sure that's been an honour for him and I'd be interested to see where he goes. But yeah, goalkeepers, AJ, is a big thing at the moment. I think every day it's like a new goalkeeper being linked. How many is that now? Is that probably potentially five goalkeepers that have been linked so far? Off the top of my head, Pope's obviously one they're interested in. We've had Johansson, we've had Vitek.

19:04Have we had any others? I'm sure there might have been one or two more. And now obviously Guillaume Reste as well. Yeah, it's clearly an area that Ipswich are interested in. I wouldn't say that, you know, take all of these reports as gospel. Certainly we know already that Pope is someone that they're interested in, which is a good enough indication that they want to go and sign a number one. Yeah, let's wait and see. But clearly a target area.

19:35Ross Halls:I feel so sorry for Christian Walton, though. You know, again, done so well. And now he's sort of seeing like, oh, another goalkeeper linked. I don't know how much players look into that. I don't know how much they read. Like, oh, if they just go on the EADT, they watch Tracer talk, hello boys. And then go, oh, bloody players being linked in my position. yeah I think that it definitely does play a part I think to be honest that following promotion there's a good chance that Christian Walton knew that there was going to be uh someone signed to kind of be that number one next year and I think also the harder part is for him is that he's built up this rapport obviously with the fans but also having done it with Kieran McKenna over such a long period of time where we know what Christian Walton's capable of there was a belief I'm sure from McKenna that he could deliver in the top flight.

20:25We've seen him do that. But then with a new manager coming in, it's a lot easier to then be like, right, I think we need to go down this route. I really like this goalkeeper. I want to strengthen here. So, yeah, it's difficult for him. I think he's one of those that could maybe find it, I don't want to say harder. It's not quite the right word, but could maybe not have the same kind of benefits of playing under O 'Neal as other players might do in the squad just because I think that they could go down the route of going for that first choice. But then it looked like they were going to do that under McKenna anyway, to be honest.

20:59So, yeah, I would imagine that they'll go for a strong number one option, established, experienced, and that Walton might have to settle at least for the time being for being that number two and try and work his way back into the team. He's done it before.

21:12Ross Halls:Yes, indeed. We shall see then. AJ, then, sort of quickfire roundup of the other links that are like, potentially, but because of where they're coming from, you're like, oh, a pinch of salt. Let us know. There's three players here. Yeah, we're going to do these in order. This feels really bad. In order of reliability is how I'm going to do this and how I see these kind of links. Number one, Cesar Cassadei. Is it Italian with a ch or a ch? I don't know. We need Mark here to talk about this. Either way, really interesting one, this one, because it kind of involves a few dominoes coming down here.

21:53Cassaday is being linked with a return to former club. Chelsea was there for a while. I think he made 11 appearances, had time out on loan at Reading and Leicester then, but it was clear that he wasn't going to get the regular game time at Chelsea. So he was sold to Torino where he's now been playing regular football and really impressing over in Serie A. and as you see so often with Chelsea players when they go out on loan, sorry, when they get sold elsewhere and they impress, Chelsea go, oh, hang on, wait, no, let's get him back. There's reports of that with competition as well from Brighton, Everton and Spanish club Real Betis as well, who've also been linked with a move for him.

22:35Now, obviously, when you look at those clubs and you look at Chelsea, he's probably not going to come back and start regularly at Chelsea. So this is where the dominoes then come in, which has been reported that if Chelsea do look to take him back, I'm not sure if there is a direct buyback clause or what the situation is there. But if they are to do it, it's being reported by Tuto Mercato Web that they could send the 23-year-old straight to Ipswich next season to go and get some Premier League experience. Yeah, a player I really like. He's this kind of really nice, tidy operator. He's an all-rounder, but he's also 6 '4", so he's got the right physical profile.

23:12I've seen that. He's a big boy. He's a big boy. And I think that that partnership would work quite well with Azul Matasiwa. I'm not sure on the reliability of this one, to be honest, with it coming from abroad. And again, this kind of moving parts, different clubs linked, et cetera, et cetera, always causes a few question marks. But certainly if it's one that Ipswich like and everything lines up with him returning to Chelsea, going out on loan, I would be a big fan of this one. I think he'd be a really nice fit into the Premier League And then a couple of English players. The first one is from Football Insider.