Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says signing a striker before tonight’s 11pm deadline is looking ‘less likely than likely’ at this moment in time.
With George Hirst injured, the Blues have Liam Delap, Ali Al-Hamadi and Freddie Ladapo as centre forward options in the early stages of their long-awaited Premier League return.
“I think it’s less likely than likely at the moment. It’s not impossible,” said McKenna, speaking at this afternoon’s press conference ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Fulham.
“It’s a position that we’ve looked at to add to because we want to be deep and strong in that area and because we have some injuries in our forward line.
“The club continues to work hard right to the last bit of the window. If there’s the right opportunity for the right player that improves us, we’ll look to do it. If it’s not possible then we’ll progress with the squad that we have. We have a lot of faith in all of the players in the squad and the players we have in those areas.”
As exclusively revealed by the EADT and Ipswich Star on August 20, Town struck a deal with Chelsea to bring in Armando Broja on a season-long loan. An issue highlighted in his medical means those talks have stalled though.
Asked if that move was now definitely off, McKenna replied: “There’s been discussions with Armando, that’s not a secret. It’s not a secret that he has an injury issue either.
“The discussions are ongoing. It has to be the right thing for all parties. It has to be the right thing for us, that he can come and have a positive impact at a point in the season, it has to be the right thing for Armando, because this is a very important moment for his young career, and it has to be the right decision for Chelsea.
“Those parties are continuing to discuss while I’m focusing on Fulham. Hopefully the best resolution will be found by this evening.”
Meanwhile, it’s understood that this morning’s report from the Daily Mail, that the Blues are interested in Middlesbrough striker Emmanuel Latte Lath, is correct.
On that, McKenna said: “I never speak on other players. The Armando situation is a little bit different because it’s publicised that he’s not with Chelsea’s first team squad at the moment, but any player that’s active with another team, I’ll never mention their names.”
The Blues boss added: “I’m happy with where we’re at. Not everything always goes your way. You don’t get every first target you go for, whether that’s Manchester City or Ipswich Town. At the moment we are light in the forward positions, with Liam (Delap) in his first season of Premier League football and Ali (Al-Hamadi) as the other option who we know has come from playing League Two eight months ago.
“If we don’t manage to strengthen, we have George Hirst coming back from injury after the window closes and we’ll go with three hungry, young strikers in George, Liam and Ali who we know what we’re going to get from. We know they will improve and develop over the course of the season. I believe all three of them can have an impact at this level."
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