Ipswich Town told they "dodged a bullet" involving Chelsea, Sunderland transfer deal | OneFootball

FLW's Ipswich fan pundit has discussed missing out on summer transfer target Marc Guiu

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…

Chelsea's Marc Guiu attracted much interest this summer, with Ipswich and Sunderland being the front-runners for the Spaniard's signature before siding with the Black Cats on a loan deal.

Guiu signed for Chelsea last summer from La Liga giants Barcelona, but has struggled to break into Enzo Maresca’s first-team plans on a regular basis, as reflected by merely featuring in the Premier League three times last season.

However, on the European stage, Guiu played a vital part in Chelsea's run in the Conference League as the 19-year-old contributed six goals in nine appearances in the competition which eventually led to them lifting the trophy.

After making the move to Sunderland earlier this summer, just to be recalled by Chelsea on deadline day due to an injury to their new signing from Ipswich, Liam Delap, Guiu has had a whirlwind over the past month. But for Ipswich, missing out on the Spaniard's services hasn't had a massive impact on Kieran McKenna's due to their attacking talent already at their disposal.

Ipswich Town unfazed after missing out on Marc Guiu transfer

In his short spell with the Black Cats, Guiu game-time was sparse to say the least, as he was used twice in the Premier League for a combined total of 15 minutes on the pitch. He did, however, play a full 90 minutes in their EFL Cup clash against League One Huddersfield, where he was on the scoresheet, but it wasn't enough to see them receive an early exit from the competition by being eliminated on penalties.

Football League World asked our Ipswich Town fan pundit, Adam Wilkin, whether he believes Ipswich ultimately dodged a bullet by avoiding a move for Guiu. In Adam's view, the Tractor Boys certainly got away with one in pursuing other options.

Adam said, "I think we really dodged a bullet with the Guiu signing."

"Not only with the recall factor, and the fact that he's had to go back to Chelsea, or that Chelsea have pulled him back as cover rather than letting Nicolas Jackson's move fall through, which looked like the initial plan. That decision itself was a bit bizarre, as surely they've got a tonne of attacking players who could've covered as the third centre forward without Guiu."

Ipswich Town got it right in pursuing other striker targets over Marc Guiu

Since losing out to Premier League side Sunderland for the signing of Guiu, Ipswich's summer recruitment in terms of attackers has been assured by bringing in the likes of well-regarded Championship talisman Chuba Akpom as well as Ivan Azon, who mimics similar traits to those of Guiu.

Adam believes that Ipswich got it right when it comes to looking elsewhere for attacking reinforcements, with Guiu not exactly being given the chance to hit the ground running under Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris.

"It will be interesting to see how much time he gets [at Chelsea]. He'd not really featured much at Sunderland."

"I think the other targets we've gone for, Azon, has looked good in his little cameo off the bench, and I think he is a player who is probably more suited to our style than Guiu was anyway, so that is definitely one of the things that I think we got right in the transfer market."