McKenna on Hladky and Bakinson futures
Ipswich Town keeper Vaclav Hladky warms up before the game at Needham Market. - Credit: Pagepix Ltd
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has outlined the current situation surrounding goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky and former midfield loanee Tyreeq Bakinson.
The Blues were understood to have been in negotiations with Aberdeen regarding the sale of Hladky after he spent the majority of his debut campaign at Portman Road acting as back-up to Christian Walton.
It appears the Scottish club baulked at an asking price believed to be in excess of £100k though, with Derek McInnes having signed long-serving Derby keeper Kelle Roos on a free transfer instead.
Hladky played one half of Town's first summer friendly on Saturday, a 7-0 win at Needham Market.
Asked about the Czech stopper, who is understood to have plenty more suitors in Britain and abroad, McKenna said: “There's nothing to update on that. At the moment he’s an important part of the squad, part of a really good goalkeeping unit."
Tyreeq Bakinson made 17 appearances for Ipswich Town on loan. - Credit: Steve Waller - stephenwaller.com
Bakinson scored two goals in 14 starts and three sub appearances for Town when on loan from Championship club Bristol City during the second half of last season, with Ipswich having an 'option to buy' clause in his deal.
The Blues recently signed the experienced Dominic Ball on a free transfer from QPR though, with him joining a packed central midfield unit which includes skipper Sam Morsy, a fit-again Lee Evans, highly-rated youngster Cameron Humphreys, returning loanee Rekeem Harper and Idris El Mizouni.
At the end of last week, Robins boss Nigel Pearson said of the 23-year-old: “He’s here but he’s not training with us at the moment. Ipswich have decided that they don’t want to take their option on him, so we’ll be looking to try and find a solution to that.”
In response, McKenna said: “I think there’s still time on that option that we have, so we’ve not had discussions yet with Tyreeq or with Bristol City as I’m aware of.
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“That’s a position between ourselves and Tyreeq and his representatives. That’s, as far as I know, not a formal position from our club yet. We’ll have those discussions up until the deadline that I believe is in place.”
