Ipswich & Coventry City must battle it out to sign Tottenham’s “Kane regen”

Ipswich Town and Coventry City will be very glad that they managed to achieve promotion to the Premier League via the automatic spots, with the Spygate scandal involving Southampton rumbling on in the Championship.

The approaching Championship playoff final could be postponed, owing to the Saints’ espionage tactics.

Thankfully, the Tractor Boys and the Sky Blues haven’t been on the receiving end of any such delays, as they have both been top-flight official since the start of May, with emphatic wins over Queens Park Rangers and Watford securing the top two positions.

While they both scored goals by the bucket load on the final day of the season to comfortably secure their Premier League status – as QPR and the Hornets leaked seven goals respectively – the top-flight is a different kettle of fish altogether, as the promoted duo continue to be linked with a whole host of brand-new centre-forwards to try and adjust to the punishing division.

Ipswich and Coventry target new strikers

Between them last season in league action, both Frank Lampard’s resounding champions and Kieran McKenna’s men would score a ridiculous 177 strikes.

Unfortunately for the Tractor Boys, though, they know blistering goalscoring numbers in the second tier mean very little when making the jump up, having only scored a meagre 36 goals during the 2024/25 season, when relegation was served up.

Coventry could well be in for a rude awakening, too, which is why both promoted sides have been linked to the likes of Lois Openda to enhance their attacking positions even more, with Openda a well-known goalscoring hero in leagues such as the Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

With Troy Parrott also reportedly tickling their fancy, after a 23-goal season on the books of AZ Alkmaar, it is clear what position the Premier League newbies are setting their sights on for an early summer purchase.

There is another target on both the clubs’ agenda who could be the next Liam Delap in the Premier League, which will certainly catch the eye of Tractor Boys fans.

Ipswich and Coventry could battle it out for the new Delap

Delap would set the Premier League alight last season for the Suffolk outfit, with his 12 top-flight goals, from only 32 league starts, meaning he was a rare bright spark at Portman Road.

Noted as being a “monster” in front of goal, as per ex-Ipswich teammate Alex Palmer, Chelsea would come in for the 23-year-old when the Tractor Boys’ relegation to the second tier was confirmed, to the dismay of the Ipswich faithful.

Therefore, if Ipswich have the chance to snap up a striker similar to Delap this summer, they should go all in, with Tottenham Hotspur youngster Will Lankshear perhaps ticking all the right boxes in this regard.

As per Football Insiderthe promoted side have been previously keen, and with Leeds United noted as being willing to pursue a move this summer, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Ipswich return with their interest, after Lankshear bagged a promising 12 goals last season on loan at Oxford United.

Coventry could also potentially pursue his signature, as they try to win their own Delap-style sensation, who can power home the goals to try and stave off relegation.

After all, Delap was once in the same boat as Lankshear as a wide-eyed academy product at Manchester City who benefitted from several EFL loans, scoring 12 goals – the exact amount as the one-time U’s loanee – from 68 second-tier outings for the likes of Hull City.

Now, the 23-year-old is a £30m talent off the back of a red-hot stint at Portman Road, with Lankshear wanting to be a leading man for a team such as Ipswich or Coventry, in a similar vein, when emerging from the shadows of a potent youth career at Spurs.

26 goals for the U21z, and one senior strike for the North London giants has resulted in the 21-year-old even being dubbed a “Harry Kane regen” by one scout on X, alongside Matt Bloomfield noting that he will “go to the top”.

Ipswich and Coventry might soon gift Lankshear the platform to live up to all this hype, with McKenna and Co keeping their fingers crossed that he can be another Delap-style revelation, only this time around, survival is achieved.

In the Sky Blues’ corner, they’ll just be willing to take a gamble, like the Tractor Boys did with Delap last season, as they attempt to pick up just the right recruits to give their survival chances a boost.