Coventry City & Ipswich Town’s transfer battle: Wrexham or Burnley should beat them both | OneFootball

Dan Neil is expected to leave Sunderland this summer, and these two prospective Championship title challengers should pick him up

Dan Neil's 18-year association with Sunderland, all the way from the academy to captaining the Black Cats in their play-off final win at Wembley last season, will come to an end at the end of the current campaign.

The 24-year-old has been close to ever-present at the Stadium of Light in the four seasons between their League One promotion and their Championship one last year, but was a victim of the mass squad overhaul in the summer, where Sunderland spent £155 million on 14 new players to prepare for the Premier League.

After an opening half of the current campaign, which saw Neil make just three cameo appearances, totalling 13 minutes, he was sent out on loan to promotion-chasing Ipswich Town in January.

Within that deal, it was announced that the former Sunderland captain would be departing the club in the summer at the end of his contract.

Kieran McKenna's side may have the advantage in any negotiations in the summer, as Neil will possibly have played a part in a potential promotion at Portman Road, but also in the mix are Coventry City, who are more likely to be playing Premier League football this season than the Tractor Boys.

That being said, the 24-year-old was deemed not good enough to be a regular fixture in a top-flight side this season, and the same may be said if a club in the Premier League picks him up in the summer. Therefore, here are two sides that may be battling near the top of the Championship next season, who should be registering their interest in him.

Wrexham

In an ideal scenario, Wrexham will be playing Premier League football next season, but if the current seventh-placed side in the Championship doesn't secure their fourth consecutive promotion, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

There was a big squad overhaul at the Racecourse this past summer as the Red Dragons got ready for the second tier, and you'd imagine that there'd be even more improvements in the coming off-season.

If another Championship campaign is on the horizon, you'd imagine that the focus would likely be to replace some of the remaining top-end League One stars who came up into the second-tier with them and replace those with top-end Championship players well-equipped for a top-two surge.

Therefore, there won't be many better to target in the heart of the midfield than a 24-year-old who has the leadership capabilities of someone five or six years older and who has experience of being promoted to the Premier League before.

As mentioned before, Neil is reliable, having missed just seven league games in the three Championship campaigns he spent with Sunderland, and can pop up with a goal here and there, too. He'd be the perfect upgrade to partner with Ben Sheaf next season.

Also, in an ideal world, Burnley would be playing Premier League football next season, but the likelihood of the Clarets returning to the Championship at the first time of asking once more is growing increasingly likely as the campaign winds down.

While Wrexham may be looking for upgrades in the midfield, Burnley will likely be looking to retool their engine room ahead of the new campaign. Florentino Luis and James Ward-Prowse are likely to return to their parent clubs at the end of their loan spells, and Josh Cullen will miss the start of next season as he nurses the ACL injury he picked up in December.

That leaves Lesley Ugochukwu and Josh Laurent as the club's only senior defensive midfielders, and there's no guarantee that the former will remain at Turf Moor, too, after showing glimpses of quality throughout the campaign.

So, a new leader akin to Josh Brownhill will be required, and Neil could end up being that guy, for the same, reliable reasons that would make him a good fit at Wrexham, too.

The 24-year-old has an upside that would make him a decent signing for any outfit looking to push themselves towards promotion to the Premier League. It's why Ipswich went for him in January, and why both Wrexham and Burnley should be plotting a move for him in the summer.