Ipswich Town

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Ipswich Town have announced the appointment of former player Sone Aluko as a first-team coach.

The Nigerian, made 62 appearances for the club, before retiring at the end of last season.

Speaking to the club's official website, external, Aluko said: “It is a real privilege to start the next phase of my career by joining the first-team coaching staff here at the club.

“Learning from the manager and all the coaching staff here is a fantastic opportunity for me. It is a great time to be at Ipswich, and I'm really looking forward to helping the squad continue to learn and take on the challenge of the Premier League.”

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna added: “We’re delighted to add Sone to our coaching team.

“His work ethic and values have been important for the club over the last few years, and we know he will continue to bring those qualities to his new role.

“Sone has strong relationships with players and staff at the club and he will be a big addition for us.”

The club also announced that former West Ham goalkeeper David Martin has also joined to help goalkeeper development in the academy and assist head of goalkeeping Rene Gilmartin.

Ipswich Town are confident of signing Hull City winger Jaden Philogene, 22, and defender Jacob Greaves, 23, for about £35m. (Talksport), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

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BBC Radio Suffolk's Connor Bennett has been discussing Ipswich's recent links to in-demand Hull City winger Jaden Philogene on the Tractor Social podcast: "It is crazy to think that we are being linked to players that are being linked to Barcelona, at Ipswich Town.

"Going from what we have seen on Twitter [now X] and the journalists around the place, Philogene wants Town. He wants to stay here and he would rather be an Ipswich Town player than a Barcelona player.

"He would rather have a trip down to Aldeburgh where the seagulls absolutely scrap at his chips after the game, as opposed to having paella on a beach in Barcelona.

"I mean that is his choice and that is fair play, really!

"He has got bags of experience with 80 Championship appearances. He had an outstanding season last year.

"I've seen a lot of people stressing about the transfer fee but there is obviously a lot of money to spend. The club have earned a significant money from both promotions, so why are the fans getting stressed? It's not our money, so enjoy it!

"Yes, it could be a £30m mistake [for Jaden Philogene and Jacob Greaves] if it goes wrong, but who is to say that it will go wrong? Has Kieran McKenna got a single transfer wrong since he has been here? I would say, no."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

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Ipswich Town are back in pre-season training before their return to the Premier League and Omari Hutchinson has been pictured for the first time since permanently signing from Chelsea in a club record deal.

BBC Radio Suffolk's Connor Bennett believes the 20-year-old will "take off" in the top flight and says he is "very happy" to have his "familiar face" around the training ground.

Speaking on the Tractor Social podcast, Bennett said: "This makes me very happy. I think it is very easy to forget how good he was between the last third of the season and the end of the season last year.

"I listened to a Chelsea fan talking about him and I've heard an Arsenal fan podcast talking about it as well, because they get a cut of the fee, and I think there is a general feeling that Hutchinson is going to take off in the Premier League.

"He is a player that is really well regarded by a lot of elite clubs. Last year, he just got better and better under Kieran McKenna.

"It is a move that makes sense for everyone involved."

Bennett added that he is also "completely happy" with Ipswich signing defender Ben Johnson after his West Ham contract expired: "It's not just about improving your playing squad and depth - it's also about protecting your assets as a Premier League club.

"With Johnson and Hutchinson, you are going to turn over a massive profit on them if they have one or two brilliant seasons or they are going to lift the squad up. That is exactly what you want.

"It is a smart signing because getting players like this will do a lot for the likes of Wes Burns and Harry Clarke, who have made a step-up from League One to the Championship. I expect them to do the same in the Premier League, but this will make them better."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

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In this week's episode, BBC Radio Suffolk's Tractor Social podcast looks at the signing of Omari Hutchinson's and Vaclav Hladky's departure.

Listen to the full episode

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport Football News Reporter

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Ipswich are hopeful of completing the signing of England Under-21 international Jaden Philogene from Hull.

The 22-year-old wide man is keen to join the Tractor Boys and is in advanced talks, despite interest from several established Premier League clubs.

At the same time, Hull defender Jacob Greaves could also move to Portman Road in a deal that will cost the promoted side around £30m for the pair.

Everton and West Ham remain keen on Philogene, while Hull owner Acun Illicali has said interest from Barcelona is real, but the forward believes a move to Ipswich represents the best option at this time in his career.

Philogene scored 12 goals in 32 games for the Tigers as they finished seventh in the Championship last season, three points adrift of the play-off spots.

He has been training with Hull this week and was at their Millhouse Woods Lane base on Thursday.

Despite selling Philogene to the Tigers last summer, Aston Villa still like him and retain a buy-back option under option under certain conditions. However, their hands have previously been tied by Profit and Sustainability concerns.

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna tried to sign him from Villa before he joined Hull and there is a belief the Tractor Boys can survive in their first top flight season since 2001-02 given their recruitment.

So far, Town have acquired Omari Hutchinson from Chelsea for £20m following his successful loan while defender Ben Johnson has also joined on a free transfer from West Ham.

Nottingham Forest are expected to offload English midfielder Lewis O'Brien this summer, with Ipswich Town, Preston North End and Sheffield United interested in the 25-year-old. (Northamptonshire Live), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Graeme McLoughlin
BBC Radio Suffolk

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Ben Johnson is the new face. He made more than 100 senior appearances for West Ham and he was part of their squad that won the Europa Conference League.

Johnson wasn't deemed surplus to requirements - I understand several at West Ham were keen on keeping him - but there were no guarantees of regular first-team football, and you can imagine he will get that here. It will be exciting to see how he develops under Kieran McKenna.

Vaclav Hladky is leaving the club - he has been the subject of plenty of interest elsewhere. He had made it clear that staying at Ipswich Town was his preferred option, but he told the media that talks over a new deal with Ipswich had stalled and he didn't report back for day one of pre-season.

Hladky ended up starting every Championship fixture last season - and he played a big part in Town's promotion to the Premier League - so finding a goalkeeper has now become the priority. I suspect that should the club sign one, they would likely become first choice in that position as well.

Omari Hutchinson signing is wonderful news. The fee is around £20m which completely smashes Town's record transfer fee for any player, but it is actually less than I thought Hutchinson was going to cost. I thought Chelsea would try to get £25m or possibly as much as £30m for him.

Ipswich Town have done well there. The next name supporters wanted to hear in terms of a new deal at the club, following Kieran McKenna, was Omari Hutchinson. He is without doubt one of the brightest talents in this country at the moment.

The full-back gap has been addressed to an extent with the arrival of Ben Johnson, but I imagine Town will be looking at bringing in another to give Leif Davis strong competition on the left.

I would also be very surprised if at least one or two more goal threats haven't been added to the squad by the time Ipswich Town line-up to face Liverpool on the opening day of the season.

Kieffer Moore is back at his parent club Bournemouth. Kayden Jackson has left the club. Ipswich have got George Hirst, Freddie Ladapo, Ali Al-Hamadi and Gassan Ahadme on the books, but I can only see Hirst getting game time in the top-flight out of that quartet.

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Ipswich Town will travel to Austria for a pre-season training camp on Monday, 15 July to continue their preparations for the 2024-25 Premier League season.

After two successful pre-season trips to Austria last year, which included winning the Innsbruck Cup, Kieran McKenna's side will set up a base in Carinthia this summer.

The trip will involve a week-long training programme followed by two hour-long friendlies against Shakhtar Donetsk, which will be played out at Sportzentrum Landskron on Saturday, 20 July.

We asked for your thoughts on Ipswich signing Omari Hutchinson on a permanent deal after last season's successful loan.

Here are some of your answers:

Rikki: It's great to have Hutchinson back on a permanent deal but I wonder why he cost so much when we could have more money for other signings.

Billy: There was no way after last season that we wouldn't sign him. What a player he is at the moment and what a player he is going to be. If we stay up next season, he's going to be the one to keep us up there.

Cameron: Hutchinson is genuinely one of the most exciting players I’ve ever seen wearing an Ipswich shirt. This signing will create huge morale for the fans and the dressing room. I don’t think the price tag will affect him as his ability more than makes up for it. Great bit of business.

Keith: I'm very excited to have Omari at Ipswich. He's a very skilful young player who can open up defenders and also a great team player. He has improved under McKenna during his loan spell and will continue to do in this coming season.

Dave: Signing Hutchinson is the perfect start to our campaign. It’s a big boost for Town and our supporters, letting him go would’ve had the opposite effect.

Alex: With the momentum generated which undeniably got us over the line to the Premier League last year, it was paramount McKenna was able to keep as much of this tightly knit squad together as he could. That's why this Hutchinson signing was so important, and why they rightly targeted him.

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Ipswich Town have signed defender Ben Johnson on a free transfer.

The 24-year-old, who left West Ham upon his contract expiring, has agreed a four-year deal.

Johnson made 109 appearances for the Hammers and was part of the group to win the Europa Conference League in 2023.

“Ben is a player who fits the profile we like to bring to the club,” manager Kieran McKenna told the Ipswich website.

“He is a young and talented defender with good technical quality, as well as excellent physical attributes.

“Ben also has a good amount of Premier League experience for his age and he is hungry to take the next step in his career. We feel this is a good move for him and he is an excellent addition for the club.

“Everyone who has worked with him speaks highly of his character, so we’re sure he will fit into the dressing room and our environment and culture.”

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky has left Ipswich following the expiration of his contract.

The Czech, 33, featured in every game for in last season’s promotion-winning campaign.

What are your thoughts on Ipswich's business so far? Tell us here, external

Ipswich Town have signed Chelsea forward Omari Hutchinson following a successful loan spell with the club in the Championship last season.

Hutchinson scored 10 goals and made six assists as the Tractor Boys gained promotion to the Premier League, making an impression on manager Kieran McKenna who believes the 20-year-old will have the "hunger to improve" in the top-flight.

McKenna said the club are "so pleased" to sign Hutchinson on a permanent deal, but are you excited to see the forward in action again next season?

Is this a good start to Ipswich's transfer window?

Send us your thoughts here, external

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Managers will always outwardly support their players on the international stage, but you can be sure one or two will privately be hoping for an early exit from Euro 2024 for a few of their star men.

International tournament summers disrupt pre-season for managers.

Various players from different nations return to their clubs at different times, sometimes with injuries, holidays get postponed and rescheduled. As a general rule, the best players are more likely to play for the best nations and therefore go further in international tournaments.

The Euro 2024 final will take place on 14 July. Over half of Premier League clubs already have a pre-season fixture scheduled within 10 days of that.

Of English clubs, unsurprisingly, Premier League champions Manchester City have comfortably the most players in the Euro 2024 knockouts. The best represented Premier League side at the start of the competition have a full line-up of 11 stars still in Germany.

They are followed by the rest of last season's top three - Arsenal and Liverpool - who have eight and seven respectively. Manchester United also have seven while Brentford - aided by their healthy Danish contingent - have six and Crystal Palace five.

Championship play-off winners Southampton's three representatives were all eliminated at the group stage, while fellow newly promoted side Ipswich have not seen their summer impacted at all by players at Euro 2024.

Of the Championship-winning Leicester squad, goalkeeper Mads Hermansen and defenders Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard remain in Germany - as does Turkey's Yunus Akgun, who spent last season on loan with the Foxes.

This data was provided by Opta and counts the clubs where players finished at the end of the 2023-24 season.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Ipswich Town have opened talks to sign Chelsea winger Omari Hutchinson on a permanent deal.

The 20-year-old is free to leave Stamford Bridge and is keen to return to Portman Road.

Hutchinson got 10 goals and six assists in 44 appearances and built a good relationship with manager Kieran McKenna while achieving promotion from the Championship on loan at Ipswich.

The former Arsenal academy player, who has made two appearances for Chelsea, was considered one of Ipswich's main targets upon achieving promotion to the Premier League.

As first revealed by BBC Sport, Chelsea exercised an option in Hutchinson's deal to extend his contract until 2026 in May, helping to increase their leverage in securing a good fee.

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We asked for your views on which Euros player would be a good fit for Ipswich.

Here are a few of your suggestions:

Sonny: This transfer window is going to have to be handled very carefully as we have little money and little time. I think that Georges Mikautadze would be a dream signing given how good he has been so far. Although he would blow our budget off the roof, I believe he would be worth it.

Miles: Alexander Prass for Austria. A left-footed central midfielder and as he showed against the Netherlands he can play left-back as cover for Davis. Looked like a McKenna type player; tidy, hungry and athletic.

Glenn: We're not going to break the bank to sign anyone from the top teams, unlikely they would come to a newly-promoted side. What the Euros shows is there are a lot of lower-ranked teams with talented players. Yazici, the Turkey midfielder, is available on a free which would give us another option in the final third. Schmeichel available on a free as well!

Rich: Shaqiri would provide additional quality as well as grit. Few goals wouldn't go amiss.

Adam: Livakovic from Croatia.

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BBC Radio Suffolk's Tractor Social podcast have been answering questions and looking at how Kieran McKenna's squad is shaping up before Ipswich's Premier League return.

Attacking midfielder Conor Chaplin has been a topic of conversation, with the panel excited to see how he adapts to the top flight.

The 27-year-old registered 13 goals and nine assists during the Championship promotion campaign but will experience the Premier League for the first time.

"If he plays the majority of the games, I can see him scoring 10 or more goals," said sports editor Graeme McLoughlin. "I think he'll come close - I'll back him to do it.

"I'm really excited to see him in the Premier League."

Connor Bennett added: "I think Conor Chaplin is going to have an outstanding season. I definitely think he'll be Town's top goalscorer.

"He was miles clear in League One, two steps ahead of a lot of defenders. Going into the Championship the defenders are one step closer to him and more physical. Yes, the defenders will improve in the Premier League but I think he's going to have so much more space to operate in and he's an unknown quantity.

"I expect him to explode - I really do."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

In this week's episode, BBC Radio Suffolk's Tractor Social examines transfer links to Ben Johnson and Jacob Greaves and considers what next if Vaclav Hladky leaves Portman Road this summer.

Listen now on BBC Sounds

Ipswich Town are in talks with Hull City over a deal for 23-year-old English defender Jacob Greaves. (Athletic - subscription required), external

Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's full gossip column

As the Euros group stage comes to a close, how's your scouting report gone?

Who has caught your eye as a perfect signing for Ipswich Town?

And how would they fit into Kieran McKenna's starting XI?

Give us your suggestions here, external

Ipswich Town are in advanced talks with 24-year-old West Ham United defender Ben Johnson over a free transfer when his contract expires next week. (East Anglian Daily Times), external

Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column