Leeds to show up Ipswich with new signing after £30m Sky Sports update…
Leeds United are preparing for a pivotal summer ahead of their first season back in the Premier League.
Daniel Farke is set to lead a major revamp as he attempts to secure their position in the top-flight after gaining promotion. Staying in the division will be a tough task as the gap between the established sides and the newly-promoted teams seems to be at an all-time high.
Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich are all set to come straight back down to the Championship after just one season amongst the elite of English football.
Elland Road
The Whites fans could see a completely different squad next season. (Credit: Imago)
Leeds urged to complete Beto move
The Elland Road outfit are willing to spend up to £30million on a new striker and that could be Everton star Beto, according to an update from Sky Sports (7 May).
Former BT Sport commentator Ian Darke believes that Beto would be a solid addition for the Whites if they could prise him away from the Goodison Park outfit.
He claimed that it would not be the same as the reckless spending that the Tractor Boys made last summer when speaking exclusively to MOT Leeds News.
“I think what we have seen this season, you saw Ipswich spend £20m type of fees on players that have no kind of pedigree in the Premier League,” Darke said.
“Jacob Greaves, Omari Hutchinson, players that in the end were £20m punts, you know Sammie Szmodics, that sort of thing.
“I think they will look at it, I’m not a professional recruiting guy but I would be looking if I was them, for players who have done it in the Premier League.
“To be fair to Beto, in the second half of the season, he has done that for Everton, so he wouldn’t be the worst signing but it is not a headline-grabber, but he would be a useful signing if they could get him, that is a big if though.”
Beto is linked with Leeds.
Beto could be an Elland Road star next season. (Credit: Hasan Karim)
Beto would be a great addition for Leeds
Neither Joel Piroe or Mateo Joseph are proven in the top-flight, so the Whites need more experienced options if they are to have any chance of extending their stay in the division.
Stats (Premier League) Beto
Matches 29
Goals 8
Assists 0
Minutes played 1,440
Beto’s stats this season.
The Guinea-Bissau forward has proven himself at the elite level, notching eight goals in 29 matches for David Moyes’ side.
That could be the difference between relegation and survival if he could hit the same mark for Farke’s side next season, so the 49ers should make the move a priority and do everything that they can to seal a deal.
Ipswich Town should seal West Brom transfer to fill potential Omari Hutchinson void..
As they come down to the Championship once again, Ipswich Town will be looking at an immediate return to the Premier League and one man they should look at to help them in that quest is West Bromwich Albion attacker Tom Fellows.
The Tractor Boys took the EFL by storm in recent years with back-to-back automatic promotions from League One to the Premier League but, under the management of Kieran McKenna, they have failed to be competitive in the top-flight this season and are heading back down with a bit of a whimper.
There have been some signs of positivity but the biggest thing for Ipswich will be the experience that their players have gained and the fact they now head back down with something of an all-star Championship team.
That said, they could still do with some extra added depth in key positions and one man that stands out as a potentially excellent addition would be Tom Fellows – especially if key man Omari Hutchinson was to depart Portman Road this summer.
Ipswich Town have somewhat of a Championship dream team on their hands
Last summer, Ipswich spent quite heavily on building a squad for the Premier League, but it was squad building that most definitely had an eye on how they could shape up if the likely outcome of relegation was to happen.
The Suffolk-based outfit went on a spree of recruiting the best players from the second-tier, such as Hull City’s Jacob Greaves, Jack Clarke from Sunderland and Sammie Szmodics, who had been the top scorer in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers the previous season; as well as adding players relegated from the Premier League that have had standout spells in the second-tier such as Arijanet Muric from Burnley and Chiedozie Ogbene from Luton Town.
Sammie Szmodics for Blackburn Rovers-2
They continued to build on that in the January transfer window too, with goalkeeper Alex Palmer arriving from West Bromwich Albion alongside Jaden Philogene from Aston Villa, who had been sensational in the second-tier for Liam Rosenior’s Hull in the 2023/24 campaign.
leif davis nottingham forest
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They are expected to lose Liam Delap this summer with Manchester United reportedly closing in, and rumours over the future of Hutchinson do persist due to a £35 million release clause, and those departures would leave a void in the attacking areas of the pitch.
Ipswich Town should target Tom Fellows for their Championship mini-rebuild
tom fellows west brom
Hutchinson has developed into a player that, initially an out-and-out winger, now plays as a number ten ahead of the likes of Szmodics and Conor Chaplin at Ipswich, albeit both have had injury issues throughout this season.
Fellows, an England U21 international, has not necessarily racked up the numbers in terms of goals for West Brom, but his quality and attacking versatility have been clear throughout the season, and he has marked himself out as one of the most exciting players in the division.
Most assists in the 2024/25 Championship season
Player
Club
Assists
Tom Fellows
West Bromwich Albion
14
Josh Murphy
Portsmouth
14
Jack Rudoni
Coventry City
12
Manor Solomon
Leeds United
12
Finn Azaz
Middlesbrough
11
Source: WhoScored.com.
Despite those lack of goals, he has still been contributing in the final third of the pitch with 14 assists for the Baggies last season – nine more than any other West Brom player in the Championship.
Fellows would fit well into the fluidity and flexibility of McKenna’s front foot and attacking Ipswich side, with an ability to play both out-wide and as an attacking midfielder – or even occasionally up-front.
It would be an ambitious move for Ipswich but the sale of Delap and potential sale of Hutchinson, as well as Premier League parachute payments, mean they have the money to potentially rival Everton, who have previously been linked with the 21-year-old.
Ipswich have the nucleus of a team and a squad, as well as the manager, that gained promotion from an extremely competitive and high-standard Championship two seasons ago, and they came back down with an even better squad.
Kieran McKenna after Ipswich Town’s win vs Chelsea
There are only a few players required to make them standout out as title favourites next season and a versatile attacker such as Fellows would be a dream signing for the Tractor Boys this summer.
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