KOA special: Our verdict on Ipswich’s deal for Anis Mehmeti

0:07Hello everyone, thank you for joining us to break down some big breaking news from this afternoon. Anis Mometi to Ipswich Town from Bristol City, the first signing of the January transfer window. And it's an exciting one, an exciting attacker. I'm here with Stuart Watson, who's just left me. left me slap bang on it to talk about all of this from my room hopefully he'll be back on in a second but um yeah here to break down everything as stew comes back on thank you for joining me stew again um i'm gonna throw you right in at the deep end i've just come back on here anis memetti snap thoughts before we go into some of the details then what are your main thoughts on this signing

0:56are you with me

0:57Stuart Watson:Alex I've got a weird Eurovision delay here where I'm hearing your voice twice so that's why I jumped out of it and came back in this is very distracting Alex you carry on and I'll return okay and we'll see if we can get this sorted because I'm hearing hopefully it's not me this one but yes thank you guys for joining me Anis Mimeti so this is a deal that was reported by Sky this morning as one that was going to get done it obviously the news have been broken earlier in the week I believe it was kind of building up to this game that there was interest from Ipswich in Anis Mimeti Wolves had joined the race at one point with a 25 year old who is out of contract at the end of the season and there's been quite a few interesting conflicting reports that have gone around here, but Ipswich have gone and got the deal done.

1:58It's going to be between three and three and a half million, the initial upfront fee, and then everything else that comes with that, obvious add-ons, sell-ons that will go to Wickham and other clauses and fees that will go in that, but still a very low fee for a player of Anis Mometi's quality. I think you would have to say, given what he has delivered in the Championship, not just this season. I think it's eight goals, six assists. Have I got that the right way around, Stu, who can hopefully hear me now properly? Yes, he can. Yeah, an exciting, dynamic, attacking player. Let's try this again.

2:30Stuart Watson, your thoughts on Anis Mometi to Ipswich Town?

2:34Stuart Watson:I'm back. I had too many tabs open in the background, one of which was the YouTube version of this. So I was getting a bit of an echo going on, but we sorted it. I'm here. I'm sure you've set the scene quite nicely for this signing of Anis Mometi, the first of the January transfer window for Ipswich. Later than usual, normally there's multiple players through the door in a January transfer window in recent years, as we've outlined in various bits of content and podcasts over recent weeks. But every year is a little bit different. Ipswich haven't had any glaring holes to fill in this squad. It's not like there's been a big injury to cover up or anything like that.

3:12Stuart Watson:It's obviously a deep squad with quality in it that's up there. but Kieran McKenna said recently if he can add goals to this team, not necessarily a striker but in the forward unit, he would do so and that's obviously the thinking behind signing Anis Mometi, as you say, available for a cut down price because of his contract situation. I think our spidey senses were tingling, weren't they, on Tuesday night. Obviously the story broke the day before of Ipswich's reported interest and then share with the viewers what happened in the tunnel after the game, Alex. After Anis Mometi had a pretty quiet game at Portman Road, it has to be said.

3:53Stuart Watson:Tell everyone what you told me. Yeah, I have others who can vouch for this. It's a genuine story and there's even people watching who I know were there when this happened. But usually when you're in a mixed zone, players don't really want to have anything to do with you. it'll be heads down. Sometimes you have like the fake phone call. We know all the trips and things that they do. And an opposition player, quite often you'll see up switch town players who walk past and they'll say hello and all of those things. Opposition players don't. And for the first time ever, an opposition player did on Tuesday night.

4:30And that was Anis Mimetti who walked past and came over to say hello to us. Now, usually you might not think too much about that. It's a nice little change, but obviously maybe with links like this, is there something that twigs in the back of your head? The first thing initially that we thought, of course, was there's got to be something here. And lo and behold, there was. I'm sure that Anis Mometti was well aware of Ipswich Town transfer interest and the fact that this could easily be done by the time that he played and started at Portman Road on Tuesday night. And did he come and say a nice hello to us with that in mind?

5:06I don't know. I don't want to talk about that.

5:08Stuart Watson:He must have known of this situation brewing going into that game. And what a strange headspace to be in to play at the ground of a club that you're thinking you might well join in the next few days. Very strange situation, really. And then I think the general feeling after that game, after Jack Clark scores twice off the left-hand side and looks really good and Anis Mometti was pretty quiet. Then we get the news that Jadon Filagene's injury isn't hopefully too bad. Whether we've got the full picture on that one, we'll find out. Maybe they were just trying to downplay that while this deal was kind of being done.

5:55But if we take that at face value, you've got Clark on fire, 10 goals for the season now.

6:01Stuart Watson:Now, Jadon Filagene on fire, 10 goals for the season and hopefully back before long. Did Ipswich need Anis Mometi? And the general consensus was probably not after Tuesday night. So the big question is, where does he fit into the picture now at Ipswich? I think that there's two different ways to look at this. As a profile of a player, it's very easy to see how he fits in because he's an X-Factor player. He's shot heavy. You look at his shot map, really well spread out. He's scored eight goals this season, as I said. They've come from 74 shots, so an XG, roll your eyes, of 8.11. He's scored three times from outside the box, and the others have all been from inside the box.

6:49He likes to obviously cut in. We've seen some of his curling strikes. I think I remember a really good one. He scored against Oxford off the top of my head back at the start of the season, but there's plenty of them that highlight real level goals, which Ipswich fans have obviously been accustomed to with Jadon Filagene and Jack Clark. But the interesting twist that comes with this now is that his natural role, the one that he played at Wickham and has predominantly played at Bristol City, is off the left. He is, in this Bristol City team, kind of a left 10. He does play quite narrow, and he has played as a central 10 before.

7:23I think he's even played off the right a little bit. So the versatility factor is there. but he is someone that is naturally going to want to play in that little left-sided pocket. How does that work with Jack Clark, with Jadon Villagin? The versatility will help. Will he get his majority of the minutes as number 10? I'm really fascinated to see this, and it's probably the one side of the deal that does confuse me a little bit still.

7:48Stuart Watson:Yeah. I guess the big driving factor in this is that it was a bit opportunistic that he's got six months left of his contract and you can sign a player for probably half his true transfer value. I don't know what he'd be worth with a well-protected contract in the current market, but he's been got at cut price and Ipswich have seen that opportunity. They're all about player trading and turning profits on players ultimately. but you do need to think about the structure of the squad and player pathways and things like that. Up until a few weeks ago, Ipswich had 10 fit. If we talk about the forward unit as a whole, I'm talking striker, left wing, right wing, 10, the front four.

8:35Stuart Watson:Ipswich had 10 options, fit options for that. Three of them on the right, Egele, McAteer and Burns. Two on the left, Philogene and Clark. three up top in I'm going to put Akpom in the number nine bracket now because I think he's started to move towards that Hurst as on Akpom and then two in the 10 slot with Nunez and Schmodix that's 10 players vying for four positions that's that's decent depth and decent like for like quality in a lot of those positions but the picture can change very quickly and now we've seen Akpom miss a couple of games with a groin injury Jadon Filogene's picked up that knee injury last weekend.

9:15Stuart Watson:Yet to see how long that rules him out for. And Nunez coming off in midweek with an ankle issue as well. Again, hopefully nothing too long-term. But Kieran McKenna said it at his press conference yesterday. It's a reminder of how quickly the picture can change. The games come thick and fast in the Championship. Ipswich have got this February schedule coming up with five straight-away games in there. and he didn't think Ipswich were kind of overpowered in the depth department and clearly felt that he wanted to add a little bit more to that. So, yeah, I just wonder where he fits at the moment. He's another right-footed left winger who likes to cut inside and has got a few tricks and is quite skillful and Ipswich have got two very, very good ones, arguably the two best ones in the championship already.

10:07Stuart Watson:is it with a mind longer term to Nunez sort of dropping back into a more of a midfield role that he was signed for and Mometti playing maybe more as a central 10 we'll have to wait and see but I guess McKenna's argument is you can never have too many attacking options Yeah, of course we'll get a clearer picture from Kieran McKenna after the game against Sheffield United tomorrow I'm sure we'll get an idea of where he's most likely going to fit in but I would say as well the clearest picture that comes with that will be his versatility will allow him to play in different roles. I wouldn't almost be surprised that could we see an extension of Jack Clark in the tent as that kind of experiment, then having Mimetti covering Jadon Filagene out on the left.

10:54There's so many different balances that you can have. Although it's a bit of a head-scratcher for us to try and piece it together, I suppose as well, the one thing that does make it interesting now is that from Ipswich's perspective to the rest of the division, you don't know how Ipswich are going to line up either. You don't know who's going to play where into what role, and that's going to make it really hard to prepare for games against Town in the coming weeks especially. Yeah, should we have a look at some of the comments then that we've had in? I guess the best place to start is going to be this comment from Rodney here, which kind of links in with the debate about the makeup of the squad, with Mometi coming in, would that open the door for a departure for Jadon Filagene or Jack Clark?

11:39It would seem crazy, I would say, given the goals that they've scored to have either of them moving on. But obviously, money talks if the offers are there. I suppose that your view, Stu, is probably going to be that they're all going to have a part to play and that no exits will be imminent, at least in those two. But can you see any other movement maybe across that forward line that would allow Mometi to slot in?

12:04Stuart Watson:I can't see either of those two famous last words going anywhere anytime soon. There was this month when Bournemouth sold Semenyo to Man City for mega money. There was a couple of sort of loose links to Philogene, to Bournemouth. You were starting to wonder if a domino effect could come there. But Ipswich spent£20 million on Philogene a year ago. And we're talking about how much money is promotion worth now? I don't know what figure we're putting on it, but well in excess of 100 plus million. So you've got to weigh up what a player is worth to you versus what you get back. Yes, there is FFP, rolling limits to consider for Ipswich.

12:51Stuart Watson:I don't think they're in a position where they're desperately needing to raise money. They got some big transfer fees in last summer for Dilap and Hutchinson. so there's plenty of wriggle room there. So, no, I don't see anyone leaving to sort of create room for Mometi. It's more a case of, like you say, whether Clark or Mometi play more of 10s and Nunez drops back a little bit deeper. I would say the one most likely to exit from that forward unit or to create space would be Sam Schmodix, who's had a really sort of injury hit. Yeah, question there from Gad is asking about Sam Smoddix. You know, really unfortunate hole of 2025.

13:34Stuart Watson:Had some big moments, obviously, in his debut season in the Premier League, all the way from home, that early goal at Man City, the overhead kick at Spurs. But just setback after setback after the turn of the year with his ankle. Then missed games through Onis over the Christmas period. Ipswich kind of played him on inside left in the Prem. Then he was gagging. I remember speaking to him over in Austria in pre-season. He was gagging to get back into that central number 10 role where he scored so many goals in that golden boot winning season for Blackburn this season. But this season's just not quite happened for him so far.

14:11Stuart Watson:That's not to say things can't change. He could well start at Sheffield United tomorrow, Sam Schmoddix, but he would be the one, if you're talking about kind of inverted commas, left-sided options that might have to make way. he'd probably be top of that list at the moment but I wouldn't say it's a given by any stretch Derby are very keen on him by the way, very keen we're after him last summer I think the interest is still there, there's the John Eustace connection, whether they can kind of put up the money both in terms of a fee and wages to make that sort of deal happen, I don't know but that would be the one that I would be thinking about heading into the latter stages of this window The John Eustace connection question from BSE Blue is he registered in time for tomorrow we're not sure on this one yet the timing is going to be kind of borderline isn't it because I think we understand the others medical this morning it was announced after the 12pm cutoff point all we can say on that one at the moment is that there is a 12pm limit so their signings have to all be sealed done official before 12 o 'clock for him to play at Bramall Lane if you're Ipswich you're probably not going to want to let the opposition know either way on that one just to keep them guessing.

15:23Stuart Watson:So that might be one that we will have to wait till, what time will it be? 1.45 tomorrow. Bang on, 24 hours away as we speak. Wow. Incredibly. In 24 hours time to virtually the second, we will know if he's in the squad. I mean, he's match fit, he's sharp, he's playing. So if he is registered in time, you would imagine he would be involved in some way. It's going to take him a bit of time to, you'd think you'd want to give him some training time next week. there's a whole week up till Preston at home to kind of get used to his new teammates and the manager and the system and everything if he is registered and that is a big if I would imagine sort of bench and maybe a bit of a bit of a cameo at best tomorrow but we'll wait and see Yeah, we'll take a few more George has asked about Josh Sargent links not really seen these but I've enjoyed kind of watching all the drama from Carrow Road I don't know if you've followed any of that Stu but that's been quite entertaining Yeah, he's on the naughty step, isn't he, Mr.

16:21Stuart Watson:Sargent, at the moment? He's been sort of cast aside, bit of a fallout, comments from the higher-ups. I think he was someone Ipswich thought about, inquired about last summer, obviously got Nunez, there's a big fallout from that. There was a difference in opinions as to, I think, who's their chief exec? Ben Napa. Ben Napa sort of doubled down on it, saying he'd do it again. But the owner was saying, I didn't realise the optics of it were going to be that bad. So even if Ipswich wanted Sargent again this month, I cannot see how Norwich would do that deal again with Ipswich at the moment. It's Toronto, the club that are kind of the ones that seem to be most firmly linked to him at the moment.

17:09Yeah, George has also added the pot nickel. Perrault from Leeds. I think Perrault wants to stay. I think he's keen on coming back to the championship from what I've read. And the Potnick's a player in fantastic form, but I think that would take a pretty penny to get him away from Swansea City. One from Callum, who enjoyed standing in the mix zone watching Anis come past next to me on midweek. Felt like an opportunistic signing with a lower than market value fee. Could allow Sam Yau, who obviously covered the Smollex bit. What are your thoughts on that fee then? So we know it's kind of three,

17:42Stuart Watson:three and a half million the add-ons um i know that michael asked me here what do we think the total fee will be with the add-ons we're not too sure but there's going to be various little bits that come into that premier league promotion probably going to be if he i don't know plays a world cup with albania there'll be various things who knows it could be ballon d 'or clauses in there for all we know um but take that at face value then three three and a half million let's start with that what is your kind of feeling on that as a fee for for anis mimetti yeah opportunistic is the right word from Callum there at the moment.

18:14Stuart Watson:It's a heavily knocked down price. I'd be interested to hear, I think we've got a few Bristol City fans in the comments to get a feeling from them. Yeah, there's a comment here, 3 million, it's a steal. And that has probably been one of the driving factors behind Ipswich doing this. So yeah, it's cheap, but the bit that sort of I can't shake at the moment is where he fits, just because you can do it and just because it's a knockdown price. I don't know. Is there greater priorities in the squad? I'm thinking about sort of pathways and things like that. I hope he looks a really exciting player. And he ticks a lot of the boxes in terms of his career to date.

19:01Stuart Watson:This squad is packed with players that have started in Premier League academies, dropped down the pyramid, worked really hard to work their way back up. and I think that fits in with the culture of the club at the moment. And one of the very first words he's used in his signing interview is about being hungry to get to the Premier League and that's why he's come here. So he fits in with everything on that side of things. It's just where he fits in purely on the pitch positional-wise. That's the only real question mark for me. Yeah, a couple of comments here. Gavin's asked about, can we expect to see anyone else coming through the door?

19:42And another comment as well here from BSE Blue, who says just need that quality number nine now. I don't think we're expecting anything imminently, but let's look then beyond this one briefly. Ipswich have been linked to other players so far. We definitely know there was interest in Tom Kearney, for example. I think that they will be keen to sign someone who can act as more natural cover for Azul Matasiwa. They've been linked with midfielders. There's obviously clamour for a striker, maybe less so after even Azon's display in midweek. Where do the priorities lie for Ipswich in the next, what have we got, about a week and a half until deadline day?

20:18What do you see as kind of the next steps?

20:23Stuart Watson:I'd be really disappointed if they didn't sign a kind of Matasiwa cover competition because Azon's been the signing of the summer. He's been excellent. He's got better and better. So we're getting almost kind of blasé about his seven, eight out of 10 performances every week in front of that back four. But the threat of that two-game suspension hangs over him. It's very unlikely that he's going to get to the cutoff point. And this is his first season in English football in the championship, the intensity of it. It's a big ask for him to rattle out 40-plus starts. and the one game that he hasn't played was that Charlton home game when they lost 3-0 and they tried playing Nunez as the sort of quarterback in that night and it didn't really work and I don't quite know what that midfield unit will look like as and when he drops out so that for me is a must you know a Lewis Travis type signing remember when he came in midway through the championship promotion season to sort of back up Sam Morsi Blackburn's captain so he really added some sort of leadership and experience off the pitch and then didn't play loads of games but when he when he was called upon he came in and helped get some results over the line someone like that I think is needed and then the striker debate is is an interesting one um game by game our kind of thoughts on it change depending on who started who started up front and how they've performed.

21:56Stuart Watson:Azon was great on Tuesday night, but I guess one swallow doesn't make a summer and he's ultimately got two goals to his name and left quite a few out there. But, you know, we're hopeful that after six months, he's kind of settling in the country at the club, in the division and the best is yet to come from him. And I know George Hurst has had a lot of heat this season in terms of not being what we hoped he would be with the number nine on his back. but I thought he was decent against Blackburn last weekend and I think he's a different type of option. Can Ipswich get this promotion over the line with those three options up front at the moment of Hurst, Azzon and Akpom?

22:35Stuart Watson:Yeah, I think they can. Will they need someone better, an upgrade, if they get to the Premier League? Yes, undoubtedly. But whether the time to do that is now or in the summer remains to be seen. We're talking a pretty small pool of players that would be a virtually guaranteed upgrade on what they've got. I don't know what your thoughts are on that. Yeah, I think the way they've built the squad is going to be quite interesting in the mid to long term as well, knowing that going forward, when you reach the Premier League, as the ambition will be to do and the expectation will be that it should get promoted this season, that then unlocks a whole different world of players, doesn't it?

23:18as well when we're talking about the number nine spot do you want to go out and sign a number nine who will have a big impact in the next six months but then you've got to try and make the sell that we might actually go out and spend 20 25 million on a striker when we've got our our tv money in and we can guarantee premier league football next summer so the squad building element has to be considered in the short term how you get the most out of a squad in the championship let's make it clear this squad championship level is crazy isn't it when you look at the individual quality but then also how you can keep layering that up and the best teams when you've seen this with Sunderland maybe to a slightly lesser extent with Leeds and others who've been successful in the top flight is that um I mean the term I've used for is the water levels rising these guys who starred in the championship then when you get up to the Premier League might drop down and have slightly reduced roles and others who come in for big fees are the ones who then come in and start week in week out that's going to be the balance and it also becomes quite interesting as well to sell that to players both in the short term and then beyond that but as anis mimetti said in his interview the the dream is to play premier league football this is the way that he sees to getting to that he was playing at woodford town a essex non-league side as recently as 2020 that would around COVID time.

24:42So it doesn't feel that long ago that he was doing that. Then went to Wickham, of course, and then on to Bristol City and now Ipswich. So that career path, you mentioned that, fits in quite nicely with a lot of the squad.

24:56Stuart Watson:I think you can always tell players that have had that slightly different route to this sort of level. I remember someone like Tyrone Mings and others, they've just got that a little bit more appreciation. and that's not a knock on some of the lads that have been in academy since the age of eight. They know nothing different, but they've been in those academy bubbles. They've been kind of taught almost robotically at times. There's a lot to be said for players that go away, have a different taste of life, have a little taste of disappointment, have to kind of climb their way back up and have some different experiences.

25:33Stuart Watson:I think you can always tell that from a personality point of view. and that seems to be coming across from Anis Mometi as well. Yeah, a fair point here from Death X Diabetes. It really throws me that name, but fair enough. It comes and tunes into quite a lot of things, so thank you for following. Yeah, great for Nunez. He maybe doesn't have to play the full 90 every match. It does feel that there's quite a reliance on the role that he has and being that kind of creative number 10. So, yeah, I suppose it would ease the pressure on him. He puts an incredible shift in Marcelino. I think that sometimes goes unnoticed with, you know, we come away often talking about his vision and his assists and his creativity, but he's right up there in terms of the kind of physical output, in terms of distance covered and things like that.