Ipswich Town battling Luton Town for German striker before deadline | OneFootball

Highlights

Ipswich Town face interest from the Premier League and Europe to sign Eintracht Frankfurt striker Jessic Ngankam.

According to Fussball.News, Ipswich are looking at taking Ngankam on a loan deal for the rest of the season, but face competition from Premier League side Luton Town, and Royal Antwerp of Belgium.

Ngankam is said to be pushed down the pecking order at Frankfurt, with the German Bundesliga side having already signed striker Sasa Kalajdzic on loan from Wolves this month, and also being heavily linked with striker Hugo Ekitike of PSG.

Ngankam’s career to date

Ngankam is a former Germany U21 international, who only joined Frankfurt in the summer.

He started his career at Hertha Berlin, making his debut for the club in May 2020.

The 23-year-old struggled for regular game time in Berlin, which led to him joining fellow German side Greuther Furth (then in the Bundesliga) on loan for the 21/22 campaign.

However, he would only go on to make six league appearances that campaign, scoring twice.

Furth then triggered their option to buy him permanently at the end of that season, only for Hertha Berlin to sign him back again that same summer.

Last season for Berlin, he scored four goals in 18 appearances, but it was not enough. They finished bottom of the Bundesliga, condemning them to Bundesliga 2 football for the first time in ten years.

Ngankam then moved to his current club Frankfurt in the summer of 2023. So far this season, he has found regular game time hard to come by, failing to score in 15 league appearances, with only two of those being starts.

What would Ngankam bring to Ipswich?

Ipswich’s search for a striker this window has been well documented.

The Tractor Boys’ first choice striker George Hirst suffered a hamstring injury which is likely to keep him out of the team until near the end of the season.

This meant that Ipswich were left with Kayden Jackson and Freddie Ladapo as their only options, with both unconvincing at Championship level to date.

Ladapo has since left to join Charlton Athletic on loan, and Ipswich swiftly brought in Ali Al-Hamadi from AFC Wimbledon.

However, he can not be expected to be firing straight away, as he is jumping up two divisions. It will take time for Al-Hamadi to get used to the level.

So Ipswich need someone to lead the line, and have failed so far in their pursuit of Blackburn Rovers striker Sam Gallagher.

Ngankam presents himself as a cheap alternative for Ipswich, and a player who has good pedigree.

Standing at six foot tall, he is a physical and aggressive striker. He ranks highly for defensive actions so far this season for Frankfurt, so is similar to Hirst in the sense that he is keen to press.

It is hard to judge Ngankam properly due to his lack of regular starts throughout his career. But clearly there is something there, and if Ipswich were to give him regular football, it could turn out to be a very shrewd addition.