Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says he is not disappointed that the club didn't manage to sign a striker on transfer deadline day.

The Blues decided to pull the plug on a loan move for Chelsea's Armando Broja, due to an issue discovered in the medical, with the Albanian international subsequently joining Everton. Interest in Middlesbrough's Emmanuel Latte Lath was also rebuffed, while Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson opted to join Fulham, instead on Town, late in the day.

"I don't think we can say we are disappointed," said McKenna, speaking after his side drew 1-1 with Fulham today to get their first Premier League point on the board.

"We've brought in 12 players, 11 if you count Omari (Hutchinson) as one of ours from last year, and that's pretty much there or there abouts the numbers we wanted to bring in.

"We've ended up with a squad of 24 outfield players - about half of them have been with us on the journey and about half of them are new. That's a pretty good balance that we're happy with.

"We've stuck to the plan. We've invested our bigger fees in young players with potential to grow and improve, who have good technical and physical qualities. You can see already how some of them are performing out there.

"We've also brought in some good experienced professionals who have worked hard to get to the Premier League and who are starving hungry to make their impact.

"And we've brought in some loans who we think are high calibre and who we think can help us.

"So I don't think we can come away from the window disappointed. Of course you always want the strong to be as good as it can be. We've had two seasons in a row now of being a newly-promoted team and the reality is you don't get every target that you want, especially in the pool we're now swimming in.

"We've worked really hard, the club have invested, we've been really stringent in trying to bring in good characters who fit the ethos of what we have. I think we're left with a group that are desperate to do well for themselves in the Premier League and desperate to do well for the football club. I think that's a pretty positive place to be."

Asked if Delap, who scored a stunning goal this afternoon, was giving him encouragement that another striker wasn't required, McKenna replied: "I never lacked confidence in Liam - that's why we've invested so much in him. People might have thought it was a big fee (£15m), but I think he's showing he's got great potential. We've got real faith in Liam and I'm really enjoying working with him. I feel like he can and already is impacting things at Premier League level.

"We want to be as deep and as strong in every position as we can and we know that we're in a position where, with George Hirst hopefully back fit soon, where we're going to have three strikers (Ali Al-Hamadi the other). That's what we wanted. Those three strikers are all going to be young, all playing Premier League football for the first time and all going to be learning all the time. That's where we are. We would have liked to have added to that depth if possible, but the right opportunity didn't come up.

"But we're really happy with the three we have. They are all young, hungry and have good physical attributes who are desperate to do well. That's a good place to be."

 

TOWN SUMMER BUSINESS

IN (12): Aro Muric (£8m, Burnley), Ben Johnson (free, West Ham), Dara O'Shea (Burnley, £12m), Jacob Greaves (Hull, £15m), Conor Townsend (£500k, West Brom), Kalvin Phillips (loan, Man City), Jens Cajuste (loan, Napoli), Omari Hutchinson (£18m, Chelsea), Chiedozie Ogbene (Luton, £8m), Sammie Szmodics (£9m, Blackburn), Jack Clarke (£15m, Sunderland), Liam Delap (£15m, Man City).

OUT (18): Vaclav Hladky (Burnley, Bosman free), Marcus Harness (Derby, loan), George Edmundson (Middlesbrough, loan), Cameron Humphreys (Wycombe, loan), Janoi Donacien, Dom Ball (both released), Kayden Jackson (Derby, free), Sone Aluko (retired), Gassan Ahadme (Charlton, £1m), Idris El Mizouni (Oxford, £400k), Corrie Ndaba (Kilmarnock, undisc), Elkan Baggott (Blackpool, loan), Panutche Camara (Crawley, free), Freddie Ladapo (mutual consent), Kieffer Moore, Jeremy Sarmiento, Brandon Williams, Lewis Travis (loans expired). 

 

TOWN SQUAD 

GK: Muric, Walton, Slicker

RB: Johnson, Clarke, Tuanzebe

CB: O'Shea, Greaves, Woolfenden, Burgess

LB: Davis, Townsend

CM: Morsy, Phillips, Cajuste, Luongo, Taylor

RW: Hutchinson*, Ogbene, Burns

AMC: Szmodics, Chaplin

LW: Clarke, Broadhead

ST: Delap*, Hirst,  Al-Hamadi

* Don't count towards 25-man squad limit due to age