Next up, we move onto the defence and in terms of numbers it looks pretty well stocked with the only departure being Richard Keogh.

Harry Clarke and Janoi Donacien look to cover the RCB/RB hybrid role with Leif Davis and Greg Leigh providing the left-sided options.

It’s the centre where I think a new addition is most likely. Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess established themselves as an immovable pairing at the back from January onwards. George Edmunson would have pushed that pair a lot harder if it wasn’t for injuries and he’ll be hoping to win his place back in pre-season.

This leaves Corrie Ndaba, who only made 15 appearances across loan spells at Burton and Fleetwood and didn’t overly impress, and Elkan Baggott, who was recalled from a League Two loan spell with Gillingham in January and loaned out to Cheltenham where he never really broke into the team and was only able to make one appearance, as the fourth option. So who could Town turn to, to fill that spot?

The former transfer target – Sonny Bradley

The 31-year-old central defender was apparently in advanced talks with Ipswich at the end of the 2020/21 season but eventually decided to renew his deal with Luton.

The 6ft 3in tall centre-half started the majority of Luton’s games at the start of the season, captaining them on eight occasions before suffering a horror injury against Reading in November.

He recovered and regained his place in April starting all of Luton's last five games before perhaps surprisingly dropping out of the squad entirely for all of the play-off games.

He has been released by Luton following their promotion to the Premier League so wouldn’t command a fee and is also naturally left-footed so would provide balance to that side of the defence as well as potential to be emergency cover at left back.

The potential superstar – Ronnie Edwards

With Peterborough missing out on promotion and putting a bunch of players on the transfer list, it’s clear that they’re looking to raise some funds this summer and have a bit of an overhaul.

Jonson Clarke-Harris is the player who is most in demand but Ronnie Edwards is the one that I'd be looking at. He made 44 appearances for Posh this season in League One becoming an indispensable part of their defence.

Edwards fits the mould of a Kieran McKenna centre-half with a successful pass rate of 84.5%. For comparison the highest Ipswich centre-half who played consistent minutes is Luke Woolfenden on 83.6%.

Edwards would definitely command a substantial fee and could even have Premier League interest but could Posh be tempted into a sale with Ndaba or Baggott maybe even heading in the other direction?

The direct Keogh replacement – James Tomkins

Now there are plenty of experienced Premier League defenders currently floating about with the likes of Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Maya Yoshida being released recently, but those players would bring with them potential injury problems and wage concerns.

Should Ipswich want to fill the experienced head role vacated by Keogh with someone of a similar sort of profile then I think James Tomkins fits the bill perfectly.

At the age of 34 he has racked up 285 Premier League appearances across spells at West Ham and Crystal Palace as well at 51 in the Championship. He’s a threat from set pieces with 18 career goals and would bring with him valuable experience and leadership.

Tomkins was also one of a select few players to have played for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics. Crystal Palace haven’t released their retained list yet but it seems likely Tomkins will move having only started twice this season.

The Jamaican connection – Joel Latibeaudiere

Town already have one Jamaican international in their squad but is there potential to make it two? Latibeaudiere is set to be released from Swansea at the end of the season and has made the provisional Jamaica squad for the CONCACAF Gold Cup alongside Greg Leigh.

The former Manchester City player brings versatility, having featured for Swansea at CB, RB, LB and RM in the season just gone and has racked up 71 Championship appearances for the Swans in his time there.

Still only 23, he could provide cover in a number of positions, similar the role Kane Vincent-Young played and still has room for plenty of improvement.

He also comes from a possession-based Swansea side who enjoyed 64% possession over the Championship season so would be ready made for McKenna's brand of football (59.8% possession across the League One season).

The loan option – Jan Paul Van Hecke

With Brighton qualifying for European football there is likely to be a lot of business going on at the Amex. Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Levi Colwill and Joel Veltman have played the majority of the games at the back for Brighton this season but Van Hecke has featured occasionally as a sub and made two starts against Newcastle and Man City at the end of the season as Brighton rotated the pack whilst catching up on fixtures.

Could he be the next name to make a breakthrough there or could De Zerbi see it as time to try another Championship loan? The 22-year-old spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Blackburn featuring 31 times and achieving a WhoScored rating of 6.9 so he’s certainly a player who is reliable at Championship level.

joyousblue added 16:06 - Jun 4 I am really enjoying this , its imformative , makes sense , and is showing players id not heard of , but good reasons for them all well done
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blues1 added 19:46 - Jun 4 James Tomkins. Really? May as well have kept keogh if we gonna go down that route. Clearly keogh has gone as he wants to keep playing, which suggests we were only offering a coaching role. If he wasnt gonna play here, there's nothing to suggest tomkins would either. No point signing some1,whod hardly ever play.
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ElephantintheRoom added 08:54 - Jun 5 given the experience of last season perhaps you should be looking to pen a blog on January signings to replace August signings. A tough ask before the revolving door twirls this summer - but last season’s January arrivals were repeat offenders in the loan market - so could be attempted with some accuracy.
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PortmanTerrorist added 11:33 - Jun 5 2 words....Mads Andersen. Can't surely play another season in League 1, just too good and whilst he can be progressive, he is a proper defender, and we will surely need to defend more next season.
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OliveR16 added 08:34 - Jun 7 There is an expectation in the game that Town will upgrade the central defence with at least one PL-level player plus perhaps one of these as more cover. It would have been interesting to speculate about higher level CBs than the ones here, none of whom represent the right level of upgrade for the club's trajectory.
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SheffieldTractor added 23:01 - Jun 30 Brilliant series! Thank you so much! Some feasible suggestions here. Centre Back may be a position where McKenna is more inclined to deviate from his normal desired profile of youth. He brought in Keogh precisely because of his experience and quoted research that showed promoted teams almost always included a very senior CB in their squad. Sonny Bradley would fix this description perfectly. I'd be equally happy with Mads Anderson who, as Portman Terrorist suggests is too good for League One. Both real leaders in voice and example.

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