Transfer round-up: Have Town done enough?
- Published
Ipswich Town, Hull City and Coventry City have all invested significantly this summer in their respective bids to retain their Premier League status.
The three clubs have spent a combined total of about £400m, with Ipswich breaking Sunderland's £160m record for the most money spent by a newly promoted club in the Premier League by £11m.
In total, Ipswich have signed 14 players, including Chuba Akpom and Cedric Kipre, whose deals became permanent upon promotion to the Premier League.
Their total expenditure of £171m means Town spent more on new signings than the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus and back-to-back European champions Paris St-Germain.
In their bid to avoid an immediate return to the Championship, head coach Gary O'Neil has turned to players who already have Premier League and European experience like Julio Enciso, Issa Diop and Zian Flemming.
Ipswich, like Coventry and Hull, broke their transfer record fee four times in this window alone, with Brazilian striker Emersonn now holding the club record after signing for an initial fee of £24m from Toulouse.
But breaking club records was common across the Premier League, with 11 of the 20 clubs doing so this summer - six of them on more than one occasion.
Indeed, Premier League clubs have broken their all-time summer transfer record after spending reached £3.46bn combined.
Ipswich had a relatively quiet transfer deadline day, with Dutch forward Flemming the 12th and final arrival of the window at Portman Road for £20m.
There were, however, several outgoings on Tuesday, and over the course of the summer.
The permanent departures of Wes Burns and George Hirst - among others - are representative of the size of the reset that was taking place in preparation for this 2026-27 campaign.
In total, Town made about £16m from player sales, taking their net spend to £155m, with only Liverpool and Tottenham having a higher one.
Their strategy for the summer transfer window has mirrored that of Sunderland's last season. Town have spent big and strengthened in all positions with no marquee signing.
The parachute payment from their previous spell in the top flight will have aided their ability to sign in this window, but the profiles of who they have attracted is all down to O'Neil and the wider recruitment team.
What do you make of Ipswich's summer transfer business? Do you think they've done enough to be in with a chance of Premier League survival?
