Ipswich Town told to avoid £6.5m transfer agreement | OneFootball

FLW's Tractor Boys Fan Pundit has his say on Jens Cajuste's future at Portman Road

Kieran McKenna and Ipswich Town will know that staying in the Premier League may require serious transfer investment this summer, but they have to get it right.

The Tractor Boys' 24/25 accounts showed the 12 players permanently signed during the course of their last top-flight season cost £132.8m.

Said deals included the two reported £20m deals on Jaden Philogene and Omari Hutchinson from Aston Villa and Chelsea respectively.

One player who didn’t form part of that permanent cohort, but was still a notable addition, was Jens Cajuste, who joined on his first loan spell from Napoli that season for £1.3m.

After linking back up with McKenna for this season as well, on another loan with an option to buy, a decision is yet to have been made over the Swedish midfielder's future.

Ipswich Town told to avoid £6.5m Jens Cajuste transfer agreement

Fabrizio Romano reported via X that Ipswich have until 10th June to decide whether to activate the €7.5m (£6.5m) option for Cajuste after he failed to hit the 50% appearance threshold.

FLW's Ipswich Town Fan Pundit, Adam Wilkin, has urged the club to look elsewhere rather than committing to Jens Cajuste permanently.

He said, "For me, I think Town should be looking at other targets than Jens Cajuste," adding, "I think he was impressive in spells in the Premier League, but still had defensive vulnerabilities then, and he’s really not taken his chance in the Championship."

On the face of it, that’s hard to argue with when looking at the 26-year-old’s recent playing record.

Cajuste only started 13 league games in the Championship this past season, with his last start coming against Preston in January.

FotMob data also shows only 36 minutes played across March and April, which is hardly the profile of a player for whom you are about to commit to a permanent deal, whatever the price.

Wilkin continued by saying, "I absolutely love him as a person and a player and he is a very fun player to watch, but realistically, he is not the player to play in midfield and keep us in the Premier League.

During the aforementioned 24/25 Premier League campaign, the midfielder started 25 league games, which is 12 more than what he managed this time round.

Jens Cajuste labelled not the right 'mould' for Ipswich Town

On the actual buy clause itself, Wilkin claimed, "Although the fee is pretty good value for money, I don’t think it’s one that we should be looking at.

Concluding with, "I think we should be looking to strengthen with a midfielder in a slightly different mould to Jens.

Cajuste’s parent club, Napoli, reportedly paid €11.5m to sign him from French side Stade Reims in the summer of 2023. The fact they’re willing to take a loss on him is another point to debate about.

Ultimately, given how the midfielder's second season at Portman Road has panned out under McKenna, it's unlikely the Tractor Boys' head coach will agree to the deal anyway.

Yes, he may have been enjoyable to watch when he did grace the pitch, but Wilkin’s view is that Town cannot afford to be sentimental about transfers in the summer.