Ipswich Town transfer talk: More McKenna chat, Everton midfielder linked - and what about Liam Delap?

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0:39Ross Halls:Hello, everybody. It's me, Roscoe, and welcome to the latest episode of the Kings of Anglia, Itteristown Transfer Talk series, where we keep up to speed all the transfer links, rumours surrounding the Blues, and as standard, I'm joined by Alex Jones. AJ, my friend, another week done, first week of June. The weather's been a bit rubbish, actually, this week. There's been raining, hailstorms. There's flooding, actually, in Itchwich, which was a bit of a shock. And unfortunately, there's not been floods of rumours and links. We've not got much to talk about today, but we're going to keep this momentum going, doing a weekly transfer talk.

1:13Ross Halls:How are you, my friend? I'm good. I've had some nachos for lunch, which are really causing me to have a cough. I've still been shaking off a little bit of a... Wow, you can really hear my voice going here. I feel like I'm going to need to do a cough when I'm off mic. Yeah, it's shaken off a bit of a cold. I picked up off on holiday last week when it was really hot. Now it's gone really cold. Quite happy it's gone quite cold because that was bad, wasn't it? Like 34 degrees. Pardon me. There you go. I apologize for coughing in your ears, dear listeners. But yes, I'm good. As you say, it's been a quieter week than we've had before.

1:51Not a lot coming out. But let me stress as well, we are recording this on the 5th of June. the transfer window opens on the 15th that's when you can begin signing players, pre-season starts the players will be back at the beginning of July at some point, relax we're fine, but we're going to try and bring you some stuff, we're going to try and bring you some stories, some links some news, still plenty for us to get our teeth into yeah, let's crack on

2:18Ross Halls:let's do it my friend as it stands, we've not been cursed by recording an episode, actually not until now and then as a new link comes out, something breaking happens. But I can imagine when we get later in the window, that could potentially happen. But AJ, we're going to start with a saga that's now happened for the third summer in a row and that is Kieran McKenna. We're not going to cover it too much because we've done a big sort of chat on the podcast and there's a lot of other bits out there. But yeah, he's currently the bookie's favourite for the Fulham job. Marco Silva has departed after five years.

2:56Ross Halls:Could be going to Benfica. Jose Mourinho could be leaving there to go to Ranguadri potentially. There's eight million buyout clause in his contract that has been reported. AJ, sort of, you know, keep us a little bit more up to speed on Kieran McKenna to Fulham potentially. Yeah, this one's been brewing a little bit, I'd say maybe about the last week or so. And it always felt like there's this kind of cluster of jobs, aren't there, that feel like Keira McKenna stepping stone to big things, jobs stepping stone to a United or a Chelsea that probably felt a little bit too soon for him two years ago when he was being linked directly to those jobs.

3:32And those clubs like Crystal Palace, like Bournemouth and like Fulham, all of whom either have had or are having managerial changes within the last kind of two, three months. So this is obviously a significant one because of that, because it's an established mid-table team. Marco Silva, as you mentioned, has left after five years. He took Fulham up, I think it was a couple of seasons. It might have been directly after the relegation. Had a fantastic season. They won 7-0 three times in that season. They got promoted. But yeah, done excellently well. He's going to move on. He will leave when his contract ends on July 1st, I believe that will go.

4:14And Kieran McKenna is the front-runner with the bookies and has had links. There is very clearly interest from Fulham's side in Kieran McKenna. Obviously, they are a little bit on edge about that buyout clause. Eight million might not sound a lot when you talk about figures in football, but for a manager, that's an incredibly high buyout clause in a contract. And of course, he is up there with the highest paid managers in the Premier League on his current deal. So yeah, one to watch and see. it definitely feels like there were fewer candidates at the start it felt like him and thomas frank and now more are coming out arnest slot's been linked uh ruben amirim is the one i've seen most recently i think there's another twist in this there'll be someone we're not too sure about i'm not really that concerned i'm not really feeling this is a big kieran mckenna job uh obviously there are there's clear appeals of them being an established team with a strong squad but Marco Silva has overperformed to get them not far off Europe.

5:18Is it the same kind of appeal that a Bournemouth or a Palace or a Brentford would have? Not in my eyes. And Kieran McKenna has turned down bigger jobs before. So, yeah, we'll keep a track on that. We've spoken about this one on the podcast. We've done different pieces on it up until a new manager is appointed. We'll keep following it and keep tracking it. But I'm not too concerned about Kieran McKenna and Fulham at this stage. Wait and see.

5:42Ross Halls:yeah there's a lot of mixed reactions on social media from fulham fans town fans you know town fans probably think it's a bit of a sideward step um and a lot of people going about oh which was town a bigger club fulham and all that but you know what fulham they're established premier league club they've got some internationals some good players have got some money behind them i know their the ownership's a bit sort of over the place you know tony khan is sort of like board director he's like aw uh owner isn't he a wrestling company in america um but yeah it's an interesting one and we'll keep you up to speed when we know a bit more if anything else drops.

6:15Ross Halls:But as it stands, AJ, Kieran McKenna is actually town manager and hopefully he will look to lead this team into the Premier League once more. Let's then move on very quickly, AJ, onto a report, the only sort of report that I've had this week in terms of a town target and it's Everton midfielder, 22-year-old, Tim Arobinum. Arobinum? you corrected my pronunciation on this you came in and told me that he said that there's no G in it, not directly to you I should stress, but he said it in a video that he's done with Everton yeah, Tim Iroboonam is the way that you would do it then, I've been pronouncing it Tim Iroboonam, but if anyone has any clarity on that one, or if Tim is listening and would like to tell us, then that would also be ideal, that would be great should we tackle this one then this is a link that's come from TWTD who said that Tim Irabunum is one of the names on the midfield target list, I'd imagine that's a big old list that stretches both domestically and internationally but he is on there and it's not a huge surprise to see that he's obviously got good experience at Premier League level, he started off at West Brom like any Ipswich Town target has to by law and then spent some time at Aston Villa and was part of the slightly shady FFP rotations, kind of player swaps that we saw within the last kind of two or three years, which saw him move to Everton and Inanna moved the other way.

7:52But to Everton's credit, as I've said on the main pod again, he's been given good opportunities up on Merseyside. He's played quite a good amount of football. He made 17 starts last year, a handful of cameo appearances. and he's worked his way into becoming a really good player. He's big, he's physical, he's an athletic player, but he's also quite good on the ball, a good ball progressor, and he's still a young English player, which will appeal and attract him, which no doubt. And it feels realistic as well. He's not really that kind of nailed-on first-team regular at Everton. There has been reports of interest from Germany, not too sure how realistic that is.

8:32He's got a year left on his deal. Will Everton want to cash in? Yeah, those are all the different factors that come into play, but I'd say he definitely could be a mover, and he feels like a suitable target for Ipswich Town. So again, one to keep an eye on. I'm sure other midfielders will come up on this list, a very long, I'd imagine, list of different targets. But if that's the kind of profile they're going after from the domestic market, from the Premier League, then I think that's a positive sign.

9:02Ross Halls:I bet there's such a long list it's just players because with the database that they've got and just there's so many players to sort of target I'm sure there's just a whiteboard of just different names and like they're in different sections on the whiteboard yeah for me he's probably a profile that a player that Kieran McKenna likes because yeah he's 22 you know he's been playing in the Premier League he's a youth England international back in the day I think he won the Euros I think for one of the age groups and yeah he's someone who can he's still got room to grow with potential there. I know there's a lot of Town fans a bit underwhelmed by it a little bit because it's like, Tim?

9:37Ross Halls:Tim who, in a way? But for me, he's the profile that is someone who could be a good option in the team. And yeah, he's been playing sort of regularly for Everton last season. So I'm not against this. But I think you probably want someone a bit more up there in terms of a profile. But it definitely suits Kieran McKenna mould as a player. Yeah, I think so. And I think it has to be at the right price. Look, not every signing you're going to make is going to be a£15-20 million midfielder from a top European club. You have to kind of pick and choose your areas. If he was to sign, I wouldn't be backing him to be starting 35-plus games in the Premier League next year.

10:19I'd imagine that he'll have good competition. I'd imagine he wouldn't be the only midfielder that would be signed going into the Premier League. but that's a very strong option to have when he's been getting good minutes in a good Everton team. The recruitment point is quite interesting as well and how that's kind of put down because a lot of when we talk to people is that we get told, oh, you know, he's definitely, we've heard he's a player on a list of targets for Ipswich and we don't know the ins and outs of how it works, but those, I spoke to Kieran Maguire, there's a podcast coming out, I believe that might be next week and we've got some written bits that are coming out in the next week.

10:57the rough process that we think it kind of takes is that targets start to be put in place around February time when you get an idea of, okay, we're in a promotion mix, you know, we might be in the same league. Obviously then you can finalize things when you know if you're promoted or not. And then those conversations start happening about, Oh, would your client be interested in joining us if we were in the premier league or in the championship or whatever. Um, and I think the basic just got, it's getting narrowed down from there. I'm sure that, um, Ipswich have looked over with recruitment staff, which has grown exponentially, as you've seen with different scouts joining.

11:31I think we'd start with more than 100 midfielders that would fit the profile and might be available, and that would then get narrowed down. I'd imagine that the shortlist where you get towards the end is probably into single digits, maybe about eight, and you then start to rank them and you can go through and say, okay, this is the one that we want. We're going to try and make a bid. If it's not feasible, we can go down and do this and do it that way. But yeah, as you say, there's loads, and I'm sure I would be fascinated to see what that data dashboard is looking like at the moment.

12:00Ross Halls:Definitely. Of course, midfield is a key position they need to strengthen in, so I'm expecting more midfielders to be linked. For me, from what I've seen footage-wise, he's an athlete, he's physical, and that's what town needs to target as well, players who are more physical, because we struggled last time in the Premier League. Tim is on the list, and I'm sure we'll see many more like him coming up. AJ, he's the only sort of solid link we've had, in a way, our friends from those other days. But we're now going to talk about a few players that have got connections to town from different things.

12:35Ross Halls:Liam De Lapp is one that I know a lot of town fans would like to see him back. There's no direct link just yet, but he had a torrid time, didn't he, at Chelsea? Of course, signed at Stafford Ridge last summer from town for£30 million. Scored just one goal, I think 12 starts. So, Javi Alonso is the new boss at Chelsea. I'm going to ask you this question right now. Would you take him back, maybe on loan? I don't know if Town would splash the cast to bring him back permanently, but could be an option that Town may look at if they're sort of losing out on other targets and if the interlap's still available.

13:11Ross Halls:I know Hull City may look to bring him back as well. I don't know. I'm sure he wants to stay in the Premier League or he could go abroad. I don't think he wants to drop back down to the Championship. He wants to, in a way, prove he is a Premier League striker when he was at town. It just hasn't worked out with Chelsea. Yeah, let's start with the first point here. Liam De Lappe signed for Chelsea for£30 million last summer. It's a six-year deal reported to be in the region of, according to the reports,£100 ,000 a week. Again, looking at what Ipswich paid last time, having spoken to Kieran Maguire, we reckon it's in the region of an average of about£30 ,000 a week.

13:51So there's a gap there already that would have to be managed and you'd have to try and find a middle ground with. Permanently, I don't think Liam Dallap's going to leave Chelsea permanently this summer as much as many of their fans online would like him to. I don't think that, A, there is going to be a team that would come and give Chelsea their money back or more for him based off the season he's just had. As you mentioned, it's been a torrid campaign. I think he scored once in the Premier League. I think he scored against Barcelona in the Champions League as well. But the goals haven't been coming and his overall performances have been really poor, despite the fact that clearly Chelsea's not the place to be if you're a struggling young striker.

14:37So that's one factor. I don't think Liam Nelap's going to want to give up on Chelsea and there's a report that's gone out on the BBC that says that he wants to stick and try and prove his doubters wrong, understands that he's not done enough in the last year at Stamford Bridge, but he's bought a house in the area, has been working incredibly hard in training, has had good praise from his managers, and wants the opportunity to impress Xabi Alonso. And I'm sure he will get that. I think that Alonso is not just going to say, right, off you go in the next month. I'm sure that Alonso will give him pre-season and possibly the start of the Premier League season to show what he's worth.

15:10So then you're looking towards the end of the transfer window, and then it becomes a little bit harder. If you're Ipswich, do you want to be without your main number nine going into that point of the window? Probably not. So I'd hope that they have someone signed by that stage, assuming that Chelsea are not going to let him out before. And if not, is he the right player to bring in? There's definitely an argument for it, because we know what he's capable of under Kieran McKenna. If you said to me right now that you can have Liam De Lapp on loan for the season, that's signed now, and he'll be your main number nine, I'd probably go with that because he's a proven entity.

15:47Even though he's had this hard season, he's a proven entity to Ipswich, to Kieran McKenna, to those fans who will back him to high hell because of what we've seen from him already. But I can't see a world in which you get those guarantees. I don't see a world in which Ipswich will be in the market, hopefully, in the market for a starting number nine, going into the point of the transfer window where Liam De Laap will be a likely mover, where he's been assessed by new manager Xabi Alonso. I don't think that's going to happen. And also, I think there's going to be other teams that might be able to offer slightly different experiences and Chelsea might look and say, OK, sure, you've had good times and worked really well on the McKenna at Ipswich, but we think you're going to thrive better at Newcastle, at Leeds, at Everton, teams that we think, rightly or wrongly, are going to be more competitive in the Premier League next year.

16:42So would I take it? Yeah. Do I think it's going to happen? Certainly not on a permanent. And I think that things aren't going to fall in place for it to be a loan move. Can certainly see him moving on loan this summer if Xabi Alonso doesn't fall for him in kind of pre-season, the start of the Premier League season. But I'm just not sure the stars will line up for him to come back to Portman Road.

17:04Ross Halls:Chelsea is just such a basket case isn't it they've got so many players and they obviously signed long long long long contracts when he went to Chelsea I was disappointed in a way he was always going to leave town last summer when we got relegated and I was hoping he was going to go somewhere like a Newcastle or Everton or somewhere where I feel like he would be adored by their fans because of how hard he works but he's gone to Chelsea and he's sort of just gone part of this you know, it's just yeah, I feel bad for him. I mean, I thought that there was going to be a way to recover there because obviously it didn't work out on the Maresca and then they, they appointed Liam Rossini and I thought that was it because obviously he's worked with Liam Rossini before they know each other really well, but it just didn't work out that way.

17:54And look, if I'm Liam DeLat, given the number nine shirt, you go and play for a two time champions league winner. and X amount of Premier League titles they've got. There's an obvious appeal there, and I don't think United appealed to him in the same way. There's every chance if he'd gone to United, he would have found that same problem. But it's easy for us to sit here and say, oh, you know what, I think you would have been better off at Everton than Newcastle. Yeah, he probably would have been. But if you're offered one of those clubs or you're offered Champions League football at Chelsea and the number nine shirt, what are you going to take as a 20, what was it at the time, 21, 22-year-old striker?

18:33I can understand why he's done it. But, yeah, I'm sure that in hindsight, he looks back on it and he might regret that decision, but he's still very keen to stay at Stamford Bridge based on the reports.

18:45Ross Halls:Definitely. And my hot take, if it does happen, if McKenna goes to Fulham, McKenna signs Liam Dallant. I know they've got a bit of rivalry, haven't they? Because of Wiccan and stuff. But I don't think it's that deep. well that's just me sitting here I don't think it's that deep Chelsea in Fulham it's a bit of a friendly road group because it's just West London that's just my random hot take but a lot of dominoes will have to fall and all that jazz but hopefully Kieran McKenna won't be going and Liam DeLapp just watch his space let us know in the comments down below your thoughts on that would you like him back especially on loan permanently probably no chance but AJ another player that I'm sure town fans actually don't want him to sign because he turned the Blues down last summer.

19:27Ross Halls:That is Hayden Hackney. Once again, there's no direct link there, but he'll have interest because, of course, Barra missed out on promotion, losing at Wembley, of course, after getting reestated because all the Spygate was Southampton. Hayden Hackney, my friend, should Town go back in for him as a midfielder who, one of the best midfielders in the Championship. Do you think Town will look to go back there? And I know there's other clubs in the Premier League that will look around him as well. and he's got one year left on his contract at Borough. I'm sure they want to try to cash in on him now because they can get a bit of a fee for him.

20:03Ross Halls:What do you reckon, my friend? Ross, do you remember where we were when the news broke? I'll tell the story. Obviously, we were waiting on all the dominoes to fall into place with Hayden Hackney. We thought there was a good chance of it happening. We knew the bid had been accepted. And I remember walking to the stadium in Auser in France for that preseason friendly. And as we were walking in the blazing heat, the news broke that he had turned down the opportunity to join Ipswich. And I remember writing the article on my phone as we walked, which was good fun. And I had to have you do the directions to make sure we got there, which you did very well, Ross.

20:43Anyway, aside from that nice tangent I've just taken us on, Hayden Hackney, championship player of the season, deservedly so excellent in the 2025-26 campaign for borough and i think that he made the right call doing what he did um taking off my blue tinted specs i think it was because he's had a season now where he's gone from a good championship player to the best championship player and in doing so he took middlesbrough to within one game of uh of promotion in a slightly weird spy gating way, as we've alluded to. And now the goalposts have changed. Obviously, he comes into his final year of his contract at Borough, as you've mentioned, and the interest is significant.

21:32Everton frontrunners report today that they have opened talks with Middlesbrough that's come out in the last hour or two to get a deal done. We've seen conflicting reports saying that Everton believe they can do it for£10 million. They won't be able to, but I think maybe£25 million could be a bit high, and it will have to be somewhere in the middle. The fee that was understood to have been agreed with Borough last year was 15 million. And then it kind of balances out because he's now got one year left on his deal, which will cut the fee down a little bit. But on the flip side, he's a better player with a much bigger reputation than he had 12 months ago.

22:08So Everton are the front runners. They are the most likely team to sign him. We've had reports that United have been interested, but haven't made an approach. We've had some inquiries from Crystal Palace and Tottenham as well, as RB Leipzig have been in the mix. So plenty of interest in him, and Middlesbrough have braced for bids. They're expected to lose him. Everton seems like the most likely destination. Should Ipswich go back in for him? On the one hand, you could see the appeal. Ipswich are a Premier League club, a new training ground that you wouldn't have seen when he came over to Suffolk around 12 months ago.

22:42A little bit less than that. there's going to be a different ambition, a different point, but he has already rejected it, switch once. Do you want to go back? Do you go kind of crawling back to him and say, oh, I know you rejected us last summer, but, you know, come on, give us another chance? Or do you look at it and say, ultimately, we'll move on to different fish. He's rejected us once. And there's plenty of interest from established Premier League teams and teams in Europe that realistically we're not going to be able to beat. I think it's going to be the latter. I don't think Ipswich will go back in for Hayden Hackney.

23:19I think Hayden Hackney is going to become an Everton player this summer for somewhere between£15 and£20 million. And I don't think that Ipswich should be essentially wasting the time that they wasted last summer by going back in for him. So, yep, that's my verdict. Hayden Hackney to Everton. I don't think that it's one that Ipswich should look to pursue this time around.

23:43Ross Halls:yeah I've just put it on the notes to just discuss because I mean it's talking point I know once again it is mixed reactions from the fan base as well because yeah he's obviously one of the best players in the championship um but then he's he's never experienced the Premier League is he going to be able to make that step up I think he will be able to and I think joining an established team will help a bit more than sort of signing yeah or newly pro team that's a massive thing I think that look if he come to up such in the championship I think he would have been excellent. I think he would have been as good, if not better, than he was at Borough.

24:15But Ipswich are not going to be a dominant team in the Premier League next year. They are not. I can't see Ipswich necessarily taking the Sunderland route immediately. And even when you look at the way the Sunderland have played, they didn't do this kind of dominant, exert your authority on games and try and get higher possession, more time on the ball, create a midfielders, flair, things like that. A, it's not what the Premier League's getting to, but also, unless you're one of the more established or top-end clubs, you're not going to get to play like that. And I think that Hackney wouldn't enjoy playing in this system.

24:48That's where you have more of a Nirobunem profile, who I think would enjoy the out-of-possession, dirty work, athleticism, that side of things a bit more. How would that fit with Everton? I don't really know. I wouldn't have David Moyes football as that kind of fit. But look, ultimately, I think that's the kind of club that he should be looking at. where you see a Palace or Spurs as well, or United or Leipzig, they all have that kind of, well, many of them have that kind of style of play. I think it will suit him a little bit more than what he'd get at Portman Road.