Ipswich Town criticised for 'confusing' transfer approach after club-record Millwall offer | OneFootball

Ipswich Town made a late bid for Millwall's Femi Azeez, even though they have two senior options at right wing in their squad.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ipswich Town have been questioned over making a deadline day move for Millwall’s Femi Azeez due to the options they already have out wide.

The Tractor Boys are pushing to secure an immediate return to the Premier League this season, and they brought in Dan Neil from Sunderland and Anis Mehmeti from Bristol City to strengthen Kieran McKenna’s squad in the January window.

However, it was apparent Ipswich were keen to do more deals, as they had been on the lookout for a new striker, whilst they also made a late move for Azeez.

Ipswich’s interest in Millwall’s Femi Azeez is questioned

Whilst the need for a striker is understandable given the lack of goals from George Hirst, Ivan Azon and Chuba Akpom, the interest in Azeez was more surprising.

There’s no denying the talent of the Millwall man, who has scored seven times in the Championship this season, but Ipswich spent big on two right wingers in the summer.

The club broke the league record to sign Sindre Walle Egeli for around £17.5m, and they paid around £12m to Leicester City for Kasey McAteer. Even though the duo have yet to hit the heights many expected, they should still be quality options for McKenna at this level.

Therefore, some were surprised to see Ipswich make a bid for Azeez that would have represented a club-record sale for Millwall, which means it exceeds the £12m they received for Romain Esse.

When quizzed on that by FLW, Ipswich fan pundit Adam admitted he couldn’t understand why the club targeted Azeez when they have Egeli and McAteer, as he compared the situation to Chelsea.

“I think the striker situation is a bit more understandable given the lack of options in the window, and no major Championship sides made a number nine signing, as January tends to be hard to get a striker.

“But, I was very confused by the Azeez links given the number of right wingers we have in the building, and the amount we have spent on them.

“Egeli is one that will take time and is clearly one for the future, but I’m surprised McAteer hasn’t been given as many opportunities as I thought he might have by now.

“Azeez is clearly a good player, but I do worry we’re going down the Chelsea route of just stockpiling talent, with the hope of getting resale value on them. I’m not sure Azeez, if it was a £14.5m bid, that you’d get much profit on him, and I’m not sure we would on McAteer given what we spent, and Egeli remains to be seen if we will get a return on investment there.

“So, it has been a confusing transfer strategy for me.”

Kieran McKenna has enough quality to win promotion with Ipswich Town

Azeez has been fantastic for Millwall, and anyone who has seen him play this season will recognise that he could’ve added something to the Ipswich squad.

But, it was also surprising in the sense that Egeli and McAteer were significant signings for the Suffolk outfit, so you would have expected them to be given more time to prove their worth.

With Millwall having ambitions of winning promotion themselves, it was always unlikely they would let Azeez depart, and that proved to be the case.

It remains to be seen whether they return for Azeez in the summer, but he is likely to have plenty of admirers if the Lions don’t go up.

As for Ipswich, the only concern is winning promotion, and even though they failed to add Azeez or a striker, McKenna still has a squad that is capable of finishing in the automatic places.