Ipswich Town should make move for Bradley Dack this summer

Considering the investment made in their playing squad over the past couple of years, Ipswich Town were rightly one of the favourites to earn promotion from League One this past season – and they delivered in style for their long-suffering fans.

Since their relegation from the Championship in 2019, the Tractor Boys have had three seasons of finishing outside the play-offs, something which was perhaps unexpected given the stature of the club and also the quality of their squad.

Mistakes were made during that time, including the mass squad turnover by Paul Cook in the summer of 2021 and poor results following that which led to his sacking, but Kieran McKenna has been building his side up for something special since his appointment in December 2021.

And even though they may not have won the League One title, the Suffolk outfit were one of three dominant teams in the third tier this past season, with the free-scoring Conor Chaplin among the stars in the attacking part of the side with Town scoring 101 league goals in their 46 matches.

Even though they were fantastic in attack in League One, you get the sense that they may have to add one or two more with their return to the Championship, and one player who could fit perfectly into McKenna’s system is Bradley Dack.

Bradley Dack to leave Blackburn Rovers

Since winning promotion to the Championship in 2018 with Blackburn Rovers, Dack has always been thought of talent-wise as a top attacking midfielder for the second tier, but he has had a serious amount of misfortune over the years.

His 15-goal haul for Rovers in the 2018-19 campaign elevated him to become one of the top attackers in the league and it seemed like a matter of time before he became a Premier League player.

Injuries cannot be accounted for though and in December 2019, he suffered an ACL injury to his right knee which kept him off the pitch for the first team for a full year – and less than three months after his return he seriously damaged the other knee which again kept him away from action for a further 12 months.

Dack still retained all the ability but Blackburn’s new manager Jon Dahl Tomasson has not exactly fancied the 29-year-old since the start of the 2022-23 season, with just 13 of his 27 league appearances coming as part of the starting XI.

Following his brief cameo against Millwall last week, it wasn’t known what Dack’s future was at Ewood Park, but we now know that the club have opted not to trigger the one-year extension in his contract and a fresh deal will not be offered, signalling the end of his time at the Lancashire club.

Would Bradley Dack be a good signing for Ipswich?

Even though Ipswich have good options for the three positions behind the striker already, there’s always room to improve.

Chaplin and his 26 league goals occupied the number 10 role for much of the 2022-23 season, but he is extremely adaptable and can play off either flank or as a central striker, which means a gap could potentially open in the position he had been playing in.

Dack is arguably the opposite of Chaplin in the sense that he works best and perhaps only as a number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 system – that is where his best performances have always come.

Wes Burns, Marcus Harness, and Nathan Broadhead are other current options for those positions behind the striker, but Dack would bring Championship nous and extra quality in and around the 18-yard box.

Ipswich’s location could also suit Dack, who is a London boy at heart, and after spending a considerable amount of time in the North West of England, he could be looking to get back to home comforts with a potential family to think about as well.

If Ipswich are going to continue to show ambition following their promotion, then trying to sign Dack would certainly be a statement of intent from their American ownership.