Ipswich Town ready loan swoop for Birmingham City man amid Patrick Bamford news | OneFootball

The Tractor Boys are reportedly interested in Blues striker Lyndon Dykes

Ipswich Town are reportedly readying a loan move for Birmingham City striker Lyndon Dykes, should they become unsuccessful in their pursuit of Patrick Bamford amid fresh developments involving the current Sheffield United forward.

That is according to Football Insider, with the 48-time Scotland international still the subject of heavy exit talk in the West Midlands as he looks to pin down a spot in Steve Clarke's squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Ipswich and Birmingham are two sides who were fancied, by many, to mount sustained bids for automatic promotion or, at worst, a play-off place before the Championship season got underway with a fiesty clash between the two sides at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on August 8th.

Indeed, the strength-in-depth in Kieran McKenna's squad across all departments has become a hot topic of discussion, as well as the spending power at the Tractor Boys boss' disposal, which saw them break the second tier's all-time record for an incoming in the summer, when they parted with £17.5m to secure the services of Norwegian wonderkid, Sindre Walle Egeli.

Blues, of course, know full well about what it is like to smash a divisional and club transfer record under the ownership of Knighthead Capital Management, investing an eight-figure sum which lured Jay Stansfield back to B9 in August 2024, before continuing to spend big after amassing 111 points in League One with a raft of 14 summer signings - albeit they have earned mixed reviews as a collective.

At present, Ipswich sit 11 places and 10 points in front of the West Midlands outfit, having narrowed the gap on the automatic promotion places, whilst seeking to add further firepower to an already stacked frontline.

Despite already being able to call upon the services of Chuba Akpom, Ivan Azon and George Hirst, the aforementioned Bamford has been heavily linked with a move to Suffolk, with his short-term contract at Bramall Lane set to initially expire after this weekend's FA Cup third round schedule.

However, it has since emerged that Town are set to miss out on signing the former Leeds United man, and that he is expected to remain with the Blades after scoring five goals in just 10 appearances thus far.

As such, McKenna will be looking at other options, and it has since been claimed that Dykes is amongst those being targeted, whilst the experienced frontman continues to draw interest from other Championship sides.

Ipswich Town register loan interest in Birmingham City's Lyndon Dykes amid expected Patrick Bamford transfer miss

Since moving to St. Andrew's in the summer of 2024 from Queens Park Rangers, Dykes has often been reduced to playing a cameo role under Chris Davies, initially behind Stansfield and Alfie May last term.

The 30-year-old's fortunes in terms of regular minutes haven't changed following the arrivals of Kyogo Furuhashi and Marvin Ducksch, although the Japanese striker has also become the subject of exit talk, as reports of a reunion with Celtic have recently come to the fore.

Dykes has started in just two of his 21 Championship appearances for Birmingham this season, despite scoring crucial stoppage-time winners against Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City.

The former Livingston forward was the subject of interest from Preston North End, Hibernian and Aberdeen in the latter stages of the summer transfer window, before a move failed to materialise and he was left to feature as a bit-part player for Blues in the meantime.

It emerged a handful of days ago that Charlton Athletic hold an interest in signing the physical frontman, who was subsequently omitted from Blues' squad for their 3-2 victory over Coventry City on Sunday afternoon.

Football League World did exclusively reveal that an exit for the striker will not be sanctioned unless a replacement is sourced by Davies between now and the end of the transfer window.

However, after claiming that attacking reinforcements would be a priority for Davies, Football Insider now report that Dykes could be on his way to Portman Road on a loan basis, with his contract at St. Andrew's expiring in June 2027.

Birmingham City may not want to lose Lyndon Dykes to potential promotion rival

Davies stated last month that a departure for Dykes could be sanctioned if it was viewed as the right move for all parties.

Of course, he would offer McKenna a different outlet to his current striking options, but it is a move which would not guarantee minutes, whilst Birmingham wouldn't necessarily want to offload the forward to a side they view as a clear threat in the promotion mix-up.

As previously mentioned, Ipswich are 10 points in front of Blues right now, but there is not an insurmountable gap between the Second City club and the top six, despite there being 19 games of the season remaining.

Therefore, this could be a crucial decision that impacts the fortunes of both second tier sides.