Ipswich Town ready to land Coventry City transfer blow as promotion race nears end | OneFootball

A highly-rated Championship goalkeeper could be subject to an approach from Ipswich Town this summer as they prepare for a Premier League return.

Promotion-chasing Ipswich Town are preparing a move for a Championship goalkeeper who's shone on loan in the second tier this season.

Ipswich Town have moved into second place in the Championship table off the back of a nine-game unbeaten run, including a 2-0 win at Norwich City in the East Anglian derby over the weekend. They're ten points behind Coventry City, but have two games in hand.

The league leaders remain ten points clear of the chasing pack after a goalless draw with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday lunchtime, and need a single point from their last four games to put their return to the Premier League following an absence of 25 years.

With these two teams now looking by far the most likely to get promoted to the Premier League at the end of this season, both are already looking at their options for the summer, and the goalkeeping situation could be one in which they find themselves in opposition to each other once the 2025-26 season is over.

Ipswich Town are preparing a bid for Coventry City loanee Carl Rushworth

Posting to his Patreon on Sunday morning, journalist Alan Nixon reports that Ipswich Town are preparing a bid for Coventry's highly-rated goalkeeper Carl Rushworth.

Nixon confirms that Rushworth's position is "up in their air", having been on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion this season, but that Coventry have identified the Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, who has impressed while on loan at Millwall, as a possible signing for their return to the Premier League.

Nixon confirms that Ipswich could make their move as either a permanent or a loan signing. Their first choice goalkeeper this season, Christian Walton, has been with the club since 2021 after signing for the club from Brighton on a loan deal which became permanent, but he only made seven appearances for them during their 2024-25 Premier League season, spending most of that season on their bench.

There could be a goalkeeping merry-go-round at the top of the Championship at the end of this season

Over six years since signing professional forms with the club, Carl Rushworth was unable to break into the Brighton & Hove Albion first team, and he's spent the intervening years on loan with Worthing, Walsall, Lincoln City, Swansea City and Hull City before signing for Coventry on a season-long loan last summer.

Rushworth has had an impressive season with Coventry, with 16 clean sheets from his 42 league appearances with them. But heads at The CBS Arena have been turned by the performances of the Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson since he made a loan move from The Stadium of Light to Millwall in January.

Speaking to the BBC in March, Rushworth admitted that he would probably need to leave Brighton at the end of this season in order to pursue his career ambitions, and his performances have been such that there is likely to be considerable interest in him in the summer. The quality of his performances this season meant that there was even talk that he could be selected for the England squad for their March friendly matches, though this didn't come to pass.

Ipswich have had Christian Walton in goal for the majority of this season. He's been performing well this season too, with ten clean sheets in 31 appearances. He signed a contract extension at Portman Road in January, but may find himself sidelined again should Ipswich get promoted.

It seems likely that there will be a goalkeeping merry-go-round at the top of the Championship season, and much of what happens will come down to who ends up getting promoted.