Ipswich Town told to sign 31-goal ace instead of Joel Piroe -"Someone I've liked for a while" | OneFootball

Ipswich Town are interested in the former Nottingham Forest Sam Surridge, and FLW's fan pundit is very keen that his club should make a move for him.

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…

Following an 18-year spell during which their only movement was one relegation, the last four years will have felt like a rollercoaster for supporters of Ipswich Town.

Two successive promotions from League One took them all the way to the Premier League, before relegation back to the Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season, and their return to the second tier has seen them recover from an underwhelming start to this season, lifting themselves to third place in the table and a tussle for an automatic promotion place.

But things aren't quite perfect at Portman Road. A 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United allowed second-placed Middlesbrough to open up a five-point gap over them, so there's clearly still work that can be done on their first-team squad ahead of the final third of the season. And one area in which Ipswich are looking to strengthen is up front, with the suggestion that they're set to make a bid for MLS - and former Championship - striker Sam Surridge, who lit that league up for Nashville SC throughout their 2025 season.

"He's got good history and good pedigree" - Sam Surridge tipped to be a hit at Ipswich Town

Football League World have spoken to our Ipswich Town fan pundit Adam Wilkin about the possibility of this move coming to pass, and Adam was extremely enthusiastic that it should happen: "Sam Surridge would actually be my number one target for Ipswich's striking berth. I wasn't excited at all about the Joel Piroe links. I don't think he's a striker that fits our system very well, whereas Surridge is, and he's someone I've liked for a while."

Adam had identified that Surridge could be a good fit for the strike when he was previously playing for Nottingham Forest in the Championship: "I was actually interested in him when I was writing my blogs, when he was still at Nottingham Forest, when he wasn't getting game-time there and was being linked before he moved to MLS. He's got good history and good pedigree in the Championship, which obviously saw Forest make the bid for him in the first place."

Our Ipswich pundit is unconcerned by the fact that Surridge has been proving himself in MLS, and sees a parallel with another signing who helped them to promotion two years ago: "I think MLS is a fairly decent standard these days, so I'm not that worried about that. You've seen MLS strikers like Patrick Agyemang come across and do a decent enough job for Derby, so I'm not worried about the standard there. I think he'd get up to speed pretty quickly and would represent an excellent option, similar to the Kieffer Moore signing the last time we were in the Championship."

Surridge caught light in MLS at Nashville in 2025, but he's also very familiar with the Championship

There's no doubt whatsoever that Sam Surridge had a spectacular 2025 with Nashville SC. He signed for them for £5 million from Nottingham Forest in 2023, but the 2025 season was the one in which he really caught light for them, scoring 31 goals in 40 goals, including the winning goal in the US Open Cup Final against Austin FC. In total, he's scored an exceptional 51 goals in just 87 appearances for them and earned himself a place in the MLS All-Stars team for his troubles.

But Surridge is also a familiar face in the Championship, though he's never been as prolific in England as he was in the USA. Having started his career at AFC Bournemouth - for whom he made six appearances in the Premier League - he moved on to Stoke City before joining Nottingham Forest, where he was part of the team that was promoted to the top-flight in 2022 via the play-offs. Unable to tie down a first-team place in the Premier League for Forest, his big-money move to MLS came the following year.

Ipswich's pursuit of another attacking option reflects how tight things might get before the end of this season. They may be five points behind Middlesbrough, but they have a game in hand and, prior to their defeat at Sheffield United, having won five and drawn one of their six matches prior to their trip to Bramall Lane.

If Surridge can continue the form that he showed in MLS throughout 2025 with Nashville SC, there's no question that he could be a very useful addition to Ipswich's ranks ahead of a final stretch of the 2025-26 season which could come down to marginal gains, if they can get the deal over the line.