Ipswich Town: Is Kieran McKenna facing £20m transfer issue? | OneFootball

Ipswich Town have a decision to make regarding Jaden Philogene with Premier League promotion on the horizon

Ipswich Town took a step closer towards earning promotion to the Premier League on Tuesday night with a 2-2 draw against Southampton, which ruled Tonda Eckert's side out of a top-two finish in the process.

The Tractor Boys are second in the table going into the final round of fixtures, one point clear of Millwall and two ahead of Middlesbrough.

Only a win will guarantee their place in the Premier League when they face QPR on Saturday, with the club seeking a second promotion from the Championship in three years.

If the Suffolk outfit earn their place back in the top flight, then they will be hoping to fare better than in 2024/25 when they finished 19th and went straight back down after the ecstasy of clinching successive promotions before that.

The team won just twice in the second half of the campaign, losing on 13 occasions, as they managed just 22 points.

The summer transfer window could prove crucial to building a team capable of competing to a better standard in the Premier League, with decisions needing to be made about the current first team squad’s ability to make that step up.

Ipswich face difficult £20 million Jaden Philogene dilemma

One dilemma that Ipswich will face this summer is what to do with Jaden Philogene, who was signed in January 2025 for a reported £20 million sum.

The winger was brought in to help McKenna’s team survive in the top flight after struggling for game time at Aston Villa.

He had impressed during a loan spell with Hull City in the same season as the Tractor Boys’ promotion, as he contributed 11 goals and six assists from 32 appearances for the Tigers, and also caught the eye with his flair and trickery while on loan at Cardiff City the season prior.

But the 24-year-old has been unable to kick on under McKenna, despite showing flashes of brilliance this season.

His hat-trick against Sheffield United in the 5-0 win at Portman Road in September kick-started the club’s campaign, and he followed that up by opening the scoring in a 2-1 win against Portsmouth in the next fixture.

This performance showed the best of his creativity and flair, which earned him so much praise with Hull.

However, Philogene has scored just seven times in the league in the months since.

The former Aston Villa forward has started just twice since returning to fitness in March, with Jack Clarke looking far more dangerous in their fight to claim the left-flank spot as theirs.

That he has also scored 11 from an expected goals (xG) total of just 5.5 is also a worrying sign, and shows he’s been even less of an attacking threat than Ipswich perhaps realise (all stats from Fotmob).

With life in the Premier League on the horizon, McKenna must be seriously questioning whether the £20 million man can make an impact at that level.

That's because fans have voiced concerns about the wider impact that Philogene is having on games, even if the ex-England youth international wide-man remains something of a goal threat.

It's rather unorthodox for Philogene, who has always possessed boundless creativity and trickery without the end product to match, and supporters have questioned whether it's an issue with the player himself or limitations imposed by McKenna's often-rigid system.

Nonetheless, considering the sheer scale of the price-tag, it's an issue which Ipswich may need to get to the bottom of sooner rather than later as they set one eye upon the Premier League next term.

Ipswich may have to cut their losses with Jaden Philogene

Ipswich will need greater attacking threat in the Premier League, as their total of 36 goals last season was well below the needed figure to survive.

Given 12 of those were scored by Liam Delap, who is now plying his trade at Chelsea, Philogene’s inconsistent form only raises further concerns.

Clarke has been the more reliable forward on the left side, but even his ability to step up to the Premier League next season could be called into question.

The former Sunderland player has bagged 16 goals from an xG of 10.3, and replicating that level of over-performance while stepping up to the top flight will be a tough ask.

Ipswich should only be relying on one of these two players in the top flight, and Philogene hasn’t shown enough this year to be chosen over the 25-year-old.

It will be difficult to recoup the full £20 million spent to sign him 18 months ago, which might lead McKenna to trying once more to get a better tune out of him.

But the club should look to offload him in order to raise funds that could be reinvested back into the team.