Ipswich Town transfer talk: Experienced duo targeted and dodgy links discussed

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0:38hello everybody it's me roscoe and welcome to latest kings of anglia itristown transfer talk video i'm joined as ever by aj as we keep up to speed to all the latest links and rumors surround the blues the transfer window opens on the 15th of june this monday um and yeah we were not expecting Kieran McKenna to depart and I don't know how much that would change things AJ but how are you you've been able to get over that just yet it's very shocking news but football does not stop and transfers as well won't stop yeah welcome to the first transfer talk of the post Kieran McKenna era what a weird thought to have maybe not as weird given this this pod is quite a new brainchild.

1:25But yeah, it is still odd to say, weird to think, isn't it? And we're in still this kind of weird middle zone of nothingness where the season's done, has been done for a while. We've got the World Cup coming up, still got the World chart up, which I showcased on another video we did earlier this week about Jenski-Euster, which is deadline to sign. Fripswich Town with the permanent option has passed. Anyway, I digress. Going on to that question, will it change things? I think it's going to have to, isn't it? Because Kieran McKenna is obviously so front and centre with recruitment, and it's very difficult to sign players, to bring players in, when they don't know who the manager is going to be.

2:09So we'll have to wait and see. I'm sure that Ipswich Town don't want to hang about in appointing a new manager. And maybe later on in this video, we might have a little chat about some names who could be through the door and speculate and discuss a bit more on that. Definitely, my friend. And last week, we had the curse. The first time that Transfer Talk had the curse of a link that dropped, I think, a few hours after we recorded.

2:36Ross Halls:And that's the first name we're going to be discussing. We actually are recording this a bit earlier than normal. I'm recording this Thursday afternoon, late afternoon. This will go out, of course, as a video on Friday, and then it'll go out as a podcast. So listeners, hello. I think 6am on Saturday. So I'm sure there could be other links, but because of the management change, maybe we won't be seeing as many links in the next few days and weeks. But let's start off, AJ, with a goalkeeper, Nick Pope, who is from these parts. I think he's actually at Cambridge here, boy, isn't he? But of course, as a youngster, got released as a 16-year-old and had to go up through the ranks and then made it to the Premier League.

3:17One cat for England. He's currently at Newcastle, the 34-year-old shot stopper. And yeah, he's out of contract at the Magpies next summer. And this would be a bit of a dream homecoming because of just the journey he's been on. Let us know a bit more on this report. And yeah, it'll be interesting to see if this could happen. Yeah, I think this is probably when we look through all of the rumours and reports we've had so far, the most reliable one that has come through. Nick Pope, this one was broken by the Shields Gazette up in the North East, who reported that Towne had been in talks for a deal for Nick Pope.

4:03There is competition with Leeds United as well, but he's someone that has been reported that you're interested in, and I think the understanding is that they would be interested in taking Nick Pope on and it's clear to see why he's a 10 cap england international he's 34 now so even though he's not gonna have years left at the top of the game don't forget goalkeepers can go on for a while but um he's had real experience and i'm real experience firstly at a local level he's um as you mentioned he's from soham which is not too far from from where i am down the road and just played locally at berry uh he's been at cambridge united as well uh got the top on as will just to back that on um yeah he's been a berry had a few different loan spells when he was at charlton athletic and then made the jump up to the premier league with burnley and now has been playing um a really good level uh with newcastle united where he's at the moment and even playing champions league football for the magpies in the last campaign um and it's a really interesting link because of the fact that even though he's never played professionally for Ipswich, he came through the ranks at Ipswich he used to be a season ticket holder, he was there I think it was from the age of about 10 until 16 when he was let go, so it's an interesting one that feels like a bit of a full circle move, doesn't it?

5:22The fee that's been touted is£5 million which would be really good, and Ipswich, if they could get this one done, as I say I think the interest is definitely there, would be getting a really good experienced goalkeeper, who's done it at the top level, who's been a part of World Cup squads, for example, with England, things like that. Let's wait and see. It would, on the flip side, be incredibly harsh, you'd have to say, on Christian Walton, but it looks like Ipswich, be it Pope or someone else, are going to be in the market for a new goalkeeper this summer.

5:55Ross Halls:And I can imagine he would want to come here as a first-choice goalkeeper. I know he's getting a bit older now, but as goalies, they can go on until 40-odd. And I can imagine And, you know, he's got that primary experience coming in. And unfortunately, there is, you've got to be a bit ruthless. And the sentiment there, I like Walton, though. I think he does, I think he deserves opportunity. But when he got an opportunity and maybe signed a Nick Pope, I'm like, hmm, maybe. But that would be a good competition to have them two. And it's like, oh, we've had this discussion already on the podcast about Alex Palmer.

6:28Ross Halls:You know, what does the future hold for him? Does he want to be on the bench and sort of wait for his time? Or does he want to, you know, be first choice somewhere else? So, yeah, goalkeeping departments will be very interesting this summer. Of course, Aaron Miric is already signed permanently with Nel Sosuolo in Italy. And, yeah, it's not a position we need to strengthen in. That's not the thing we need desperately right now. It's not important at the moment, but I can imagine there will be other goalkeepers that may get linked. But, yeah, Nick, I don't mind that. No, I think that it's going to be interesting to see what the dynamic is.

7:01I mean, you talk about being ruthless, I guess, that Nick Pope's been on the other side of that, where he's played, I think, most of the games from Newcastle this season. He's been competing with Aaron Ramsdale, who's been on loan from Southampton. The expectation is that Ramsdale will go back to Southampton to be sold on because he doesn't want to be in the championship. And Newcastle have now gone out and they've signed a goalkeeper from the French second tier. I'm going to butcher it, but we'll give it a go. Ewan Joanne. Joanne? Joanne? I don't know. He's a 20-year-old French goalkeeper, at 15 clean sheets in the French second tier.

7:36Last season, he saved the penalty as well. So 6 '6". 6 '6 at 20 is pretty impressive. God. But yeah, he's made the move. I believe it's around the£20 million mark. And that's going to push Pope, there we go, down the pecking order. So that's where this comes from. It's interesting to see what the dynamic will be. Be it that he comes in, or I know that even though there's not been any kind of concrete rumours, Radek Vitek at United has been someone that's kind of been giving some whispers about him as well on social media. It looks like there is going to be a bit of a restructure and then you've got to think about what that's going to look like.

8:13You've got Kieran Slicker who comes back. I would imagine he's going to go out on loan, but we'll have to wait and see. I'd imagine that League One would be the next step for him after a good campaign at Barnett. Will the new manager again, I was about to say, will Kieran McKenna? Kieran McKenna likes to operate with three goalkeepers in the senior squad. Is that going to be the case for the new manager? If so, then how do you balance that? Because Slicker's then in an interesting position. Don't forget Alex Palmer in all this. He was the first choice as recently as the start of this season and was in the Premier League in the latter stages as well, who you'd have to say if the pecking order shifted again, would probably be pushed towards the exit door this summer.

8:55So an interesting dynamic to find. And if Ipswich do go out and get a new goalkeeper, which it looks like they will, then the new boss is going to have a bit of a headache in terms of trying to find the right balance and the right numbers there.

9:05Ross Halls:Definitely. It's going to take a while to get used to saying, you know, the new manager's side. You know, it's been Kieran McKenna's men, Kieran McKenna's side, Kieran McKenna's blues. It's going to be very weird when that new manager gets appointed and sort of saying his name in those sort of words as we would do with Kieran McKenna. But right then, Nick Pope, first name, out of the hat. Next up, he's a striker. as a name that we've sort of been linked with before, who's been on a lot of lists of targets and Tal of course apparently showing interest in him in January. And that is Callum Wilson, the 34-year-old who I spent last season at West Ham.

9:43Ross Halls:For some reason, I've got West Brom. I don't know why I put it on my notes. It says West Brom. It's definitely West Ham. We don't need any more West Brom players, Russell. No, we do not. That's maybe what I was thinking. I was like, oh yeah, we just take one of the West Brom players. But here, of course, seven goals in 33 games last season for the Hammers. Of course, they got relegated to the Championship. he's out of contract at West Ham this summer. A good Premier League option, my friend AJ. Let us know a bit more on this one. And yeah, I think, you know, the Southampton fans were getting a bit excited maybe in January that he could have signed.

10:15But in the end, he stayed at West Ham and unfortunately wasn't able to keep him up. Yeah, weird situation with Callum Wilson. We'll come on to that in a minute anyway. The link has come from TWTD. They reported the interest back in January. and have come back with this one again, saying he's a player on a list, similar to when they reported that, who was it? Tim Irugbunum was a player on the list a couple of weeks ago. So we're starting to get a picture of what the transfer targets might be looking like for Ipswich Town. So that's one of the names that they have reported. And then the situation with Callum Wilson is a little bit bizarre, where, let me bring you back to January then.

10:59everyone thinks that Callum Wilson is going to be available and it gets widely reported that he's not in Nuno's plans. It's just they don't want him there and that he might actually have his contract torn up to be able to then go and leave for free midway through the season. Then they go and play Tottenham and West Ham are quite low on the ground in terms of their attacking numbers. So Wilson, in almost like a farewell way, gets on the pitch and he goes and scores. I think it was the winner in that game right at the end of that match. a huge huge one given where those two teams were and all of a sudden the picture changes again West Ham put their foot down and said actually you know what yeah we want to keep you didn't get to play that much had some good opportunities to get minutes towards the latter stages of the campaign but um he never really felt like he was someone who was fancied by Nuno Espirito Santo and then you get to the end of the season who knows what's going on now so Callum Wilson is out of contract 34 years old West Ham have just been relegated Callum Wilson hasn't played championship football in the last decade and they've got conflicting reports at the moment where he's come out and put a statement on instagram which looks pretty finite and saying thanks to the memories um not not exact words but it looks like a departure message if you go back and read it west ham apparently according to quite a few reports are now going to put a contract offer on the table for him as well so who knows if he could be staying he's also not mentioned in their retained list, which includes Adama Traore and Lucas Fabianski being released.

12:31And so now he's in this very weird limbo situation where he could go anywhere. Could he be interested in making the move to Portman Road? Possibly. And I like the idea of an experienced number nine coming in with a good goal record. Would he feel that he could be the starting striker in the championship for West Ham next season if Castellanos is to be sold or moved on? Possibly as well. The one thing I wouldn't rule out as well, and with other links that we've seen, is Boyhood Club are back in the Premier League. And we talk about Nick Pope going full circle. Callum Wilson is another one. I would not at all be surprised to see at Coventry City, his Boyhood Club, this summer.

13:11So one to watch. A really bizarre situation, all things considered. But he's certainly one I'd like as an option, albeit probably not as a starter in the Premier League.

13:21Ross Halls:Yeah, he's not a long-term option. and he wouldn't be sort of first choice in my eyes. He would be a good option to have around with that experience. But yeah, watch the space with Connor Wilson. But yeah, that's a return. Second choice striker? Second choice, definitely. I think we need to get sort of marquee striker and then he'll be the second choice. Obviously, don't forget George Hurst who I thought did okay last time in the Premier League. He could be another option. It's just going to be so interesting now this summer because with Kieran McKenna gone, there'd be some players who may not be in the new manager's plans or some players may go actually i don't know i don't get along with this new manager or you know they may not start a play so it's the thing is up in the air yeah yeah very much so so um these names that are getting linked already um could have been kira mckenna targets but i also think clubs they also scout players and recruitment teams and stuff, they still look for the future as well.

14:24Ross Halls:I know Kim McKenna probably had the final word on signings, but I can imagine you've seen different clubs sign players before when they've not even got a manager in the door. We saw bloody Rod Edwards leave at Wolves when they just signed Trippier and Hemingway. And both of those players, sorry to go on a tangent, both of those players have come out and said how instrumental Rob Edwards was to them joining Wolves, and they sacked him. Bonkers, bonkers that. Sorry, sorry, Roscoe. That's fine, that's fine. No, but yeah, it's just, it's crazy. But so yeah, two experienced players, AJ, Lynx. Next up is an interesting name, bit of a sexy sort of player.

15:09I'm sure he'll be on your sort of target list in a way. It's sort of like left field choice. Someone I will admit I'd never heard of. and I'm going to just try to remember how to say his name. Go on. Ilan Cabal? I'll give you that, yeah. Ilan Cabal, Paris FC. Let's talk about him. Very interesting name, as you say. Not the first that town fans have probably heard of him because there was a report put out by, I think it might have been Peter Rook, back in January that the town were interested. we understand that that's wide of the mark. They were not going to look at signing Ylan Cabal in the championship back in January and now the reports have come back again.

15:56We've seen that Alan Nixon at the Sun has been reporting the Blues are keen on signing him as has Pete O 'Rourke has also put out that he's keen on coming to the Premier League but competition, A, back from his current league with Marseille and also from Brentford and West Ham, other teams mentioned. He's currently at Paris FC, who have kind of shot through the ranks recently. I think they've got a bit of money behind them, but they've come in to Lyon for the first time in a long old time. They've had a solid mid-table finish there. Cabal's had a really good season, and it's one of his first at the level.

16:35He's had 26 starts with nine goals, four assists. so he's clearly someone who's performing well and you can see why the interest is there also not the first paris fc player linked remember we spoke about mustafa and bauer a few weeks ago um yeah and an interesting one for sure the fact that we know that town weren't signing in in january of course doesn't mean that they they won't be interested in him again this summer there's always that possibility but does send a few alarm bells um the other thing i would say is He looks like a really good player from everything I've seen from him. A lot to like with his footwork, with his eye for goal, his creativity, his versatility.

17:17He's a natural turn who can play wide right. What I would say is he's small. He's short. He's not overly well built. And I think that has been a bit of an issue playing in France. And you'd imagine it would be more of an issue playing in England. Like him a lot. Similarities to Hutchinson. but I think Amari probably had a little bit of height and a bit more size on Cabal, who definitely is on the smaller side. So, yeah, keep an eye on it. Wouldn't hang my hat on this one happening, though.

17:51Ross Halls:Definitely. To be fair, though, I swear we've got a lot of key scouting in France. As I said before, as all matters to see, well, I know Cedric Kipre technically had played in England before, but he was bad in France. Jens, of course. We've been linked to a few other players who've been playing in France. We must have a scout who just goes to France. Easy to go on the Eurostar like we did last year. Definitely. I don't know if you're getting my door. I thought it was mine going for a minute. Luckily, my other half's in, so she's going to open the door for me. But yes, that is the links that have got a bit of credibility, potentially.

18:35Yeah, I think so. The next two that we're going to talk about, we think, are on the more unreliable side, I think is the best way of putting it. Dodgy. In the notes I sent to you, I put it as dodgy. I think take it with a pinch of salt, essentially. As I always try and caveat with all of these pieces, you will get transfers everywhere. All of these links, they come from anywhere, and you see a lot of people do reliability tiers, things like that. We always try and pride ourselves as being the best of the best. And, of course, you have reliable sources. I'm sure that the Athletic and the Shields Gazette, as we had with the Pope Lincoln and people like that, locally and nationally you'll get it.

19:20Some of them, of course, don't have the same reliability. They might be agent-driven. They might be total nonsense. But we want to give you everything. We want to give you a thorough breakdown, and we also want to share our thoughts on certain links. So, yeah, a couple to talk about. Yes, Lionel Messi is... Let's talk about two players I've never heard of, I will admit, Hendrik Falkner and Fisnik Aslani. Yeah, well done. Yeah, one is a defender, one is a striker, one is, I think, is Kosovo International, So he'll know, I'm sure, although I think he's born in Germany, and that is Fisnik Islani.

20:06He'll know Murek for their Cosmo teammates. And we've got a Norwegian defender, so Sindra may know him a little bit. AJ, who do you want to start with? Let's start with Hendrik quickly. Let's start with him, Hendrik Falconer. So this was a link. Let me get it up properly. This was a link that came through from ontheminutes.com. Yeah. who reported that it was Burnley have joined the race with Ipswich and Brentford in monitoring Norwegian defender, 23 years old. He's currently playing, and I love this, for Viking FK. And he's done very well, and it's very difficult, I think, for players playing in Scandinavia to get to the level and the profile that they need to be at to kind of show what they're capable of on an international level.

20:53But he's been called up for Norway. He's going to the World Cup. But a young defender, big physical kind of side to him. He's also surprisingly good on the ball for his size as well. He's someone that Viking FK really want to hold on to because they kind of want to build the team around him. He's been excellent since he's come in. But understandably, reports of interest in town are said to be monitoring him along with, as I said, Burnley and Brentford. Feels a very Brentford move, probably because of the Scandi links. yeah I'd have the reliability level on low on this one to be honest but clearly someone who fits this kind of new wave of recruitment this new era of recruitment that Ipswich are trying to embark upon and someone who you would imagine could grow into being a top Premier League player with his age and with his profile even though you might not want to sign him as that starting centre-back and should we move on to Fisnikas Lani then?

21:51We'll go straight on to it. Just so you don't have to say it, Ross. I thought I'd get it in there. He's someone that I have spoken about on transfer target pieces before. He's been at Hoffenheim for quite a while now, but it was his loan spell when he went out to Elversburg. Elversburg? Yeah, we'll go with that. In the German second tier in 2024-25. Brilliant. Incredibly well over there. He scored 18 goals in 33 league games for them. they just missed out on promotion they have actually been promoted this year for the first time in their history without him but yeah he's back at Hoffenheim and he's now used that loan spell to really nail down a starting spot he's been excellent for them he's a big physical player but he's also very versatile in that he's a natural number 9, 6 foot 3 Lisa Leinwell who's also been playing in that number 10 role for Hoffenheim in a season where they're back into Europe 16 cap Kosovo International national and report from, and this is really going to the bottom of the reliability scale.

22:55I'm sorry. Report from sports boom. They say that it's which are understood to be admirers of him. Stiff competition from Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, apparently. So yeah, I think he's a brilliant player. I do probably think he'd be out of reach for what it's which want, but yeah, we want to bring you a little bit of everything I can't see either of those two deals materialising but some fun names to discuss nonetheless this is what it's all about transfer talk, keeping everyone up to speed, put all the links, the rumours, even the dodgy ones because it's just sometimes fun to talk about players who you may not have heard of before and go at some point this summer, because we're going to try and get this to run through the summer, I'm going to say something is a dodgy link and it's going to turn out to be true.

23:48I'm calling it early doors. I'm going to say that's a load of nonsense and then the next thing we know, that player is going to sign. But yeah, that's my early thought. I'm just sharing my thoughts and my feelings at the moment. But I wouldn't be expecting Aslani or Falconer to show up through the doors at Portman Road, especially with no manager yet.

24:11Ross Halls:Yeah, and as I said, this summer is now up in the air with potential transfer targets coming in. So I'm sure the next transfer talk video is going to be very interesting because we may see some new names. We may not see many players linked because of the sort of holdup with the new manager. And AJ, me and Stu, you guys, hopefully you've already watched it or listened to it. There is a video me and Stu have done, look at the early contenders to replace Kieran McKenna and sort of book his favourites and links to Ashton and McKenna and stuff like that. so I hope you've enjoyed that if you have watched it if you haven't, please go and watch it but AJ, you've got a few left field suggestions for Come the New Town Boss you've done a really good piece on it but you're going to sort of tease it you're going to let us know a few names you're sort of added to the left field options so you've got two you're going to give away I think in total was it 10?

25:04Yeah, so by the time that this goes out, the piece would have gone out you'll be listening to this earliest Friday afternoon I think this piece I'm talking about

25:13Ross Halls:The cast will be Saturday. Yeah, so the earliest you could possibly be listening to this will be Friday afternoon. This piece would have gone out on Friday morning, looking at the left field options. And when you look through the lead contenders on the odds list for replacements for Kieran McKenna, it's your usual suspects. The one that you've primarily spoken about, Ross, with Stu in that video where we look at a Liam Rossini, a Gary O 'Neill, for example, even names like Ange Postacoglu, who are more in the public eye, even though they might be away from what you would expect an unusual Ipswich appointment to look like.

25:51But I've had a look at a wider range. There might be domestic managers who you wouldn't really expect to be linked to Ipswich, or there might be foreign managers, some that you might have heard of, some that you might have heard of as players but not as managers, and some who you just go, what? Who? What? and I think that the two RTs for you probably will fall into the last couple of categories. The first one I want to talk about is Thiago Motta who has built his career more than anything from being a fantastic player. He was at Barcelona, he was at Inter Milan, he was at PSG. Ross, you probably remember from FIFA and stuff like that when he was in your teams and all of those things.

26:35an excellent player and he's now taking his steps into management he first was at Genoa and Spezia in Italy they were not really great fairly brief spells but he went to Bologna and he just transformed them they qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 1965 and that opened the door for him to go to Juventus which was a spell that probably came too soon in his career and didn't really work out in the end but he's still someone who's held in really high regard as a fairly young coach who's got these really interesting ideas he focuses on a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 it's high press patient build-ups rotations overloads in key areas in possession it looks like a a 2-7-2 uh i don't even know if the numbers uh add up there i don't think they do but it's really intricately built tactical systems, and that is something that I think, when you look at Kieran McKenna's profile as being a really sharp tactician, could be quite an interesting transition.

27:46So, yeah, he's one I'd certainly look at, especially where his stock is at the moment after Juventus, and the other one we'll touch on as well is Dino Tuchmuller as well, who, similar-ish, he doesn't have the glittering playing career that helped Thiago Motta get into managing, but he has come through as a coach more than anything. He was working at Leipzig and at Bayern Munich. He was Julian Nagelsmann's assistant and then kind of went off on his own route, didn't follow Nagelsmann to Germany, and instead went into management of his own, where most recently he was at Eintracht Frankfurt. He got them into the Champions League, and he's kind of built himself as a really good communicator, but a strong tactician as well.