Ipswich and Coventry City could sign £15m striker

The regular Championship season concluded last weekend, with Ipswich Town finishing in second place and securing promotion to the Premier League.

Middlesbrough, Millwall and Ipswich all had automatic promotion chances at the start of the day, but it was the Tractor Boys who secured their spot in the top flight with a 3-0 win over Queens Park Rangers.

They will be the first two teams to be promoted to the Premier League this season, along with Coventry City, and will be joined by Middlesbrough, Southampton, Millwall or Hull after the play-offs.

The Sky Blues and Tractor Boys’ focus will soon turn to what they need to do in the summer transfer window, which opens next month.

Despite Leeds and Sunderland’s success this term, staying in the Premier League as newly promoted teams will not be easy and both clubs will need to be active in the market.

What Ipswich and Coventy need to do this summer to avoid Premier League relegation

It sounds obvious, but Ipswich and Coventry need to be in the market to sign a new centre-forward to lead them in the top flight next term.

Sunderland, with Brian Brobby, and Leeds, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, have both signed physical number nines who have scored 18 goals in the Premier League and have played a key role in sustaining their teams.

Liam Delap, who currently plays for Chelsea, played 37 Premier League games for Ipswich in the 2024/25 season, scoring 12 goals, and did his best to keep Ipswich in good form.

He became the focal point of their attack, pushing his team up the pitch with his powerful runs, but the Tractor Boys were unable to build a team around him sufficient to carry out the job.

Meanwhile, Coventry had Victor Gokeres, who has scored 21 goals in all competitions for Arsenal this season, having been with the team when he scored 21 goals for the Sky Blues in the 2022/23 Championship season.

Now, both teams need to find new versions of both players and build a competitive squad around a new centre-forward to have any chance of remaining in the Premier League.

Ipswich and Coventry vie to sign £15m Championship striker

Ipswich and Coventry are reportedly interested in signing Swansea City marksman Zan Vipotnik in the summer transfer window, and he has shades of both Delap and Gokeres.

The Slovenian number nine, who is valued at £15 million by the Welsh team, scored 23 goals for the Swans and ended the 2025/26 Championship season with the Golden Boot.

He has scored six more goals than Coventry’s top scorer Haji Wright and seven more than Ipswich’s top scorer Jack Clarke, suggesting he will be the biggest goal threat for either club this summer.

The most impressive thing about Vipotnik’s goal return is that he only managed to score 13.42 xG and 5 penalties, compared to Gökeres’ 21 goals from 19.52 xG and 3 penalties in Coventry’s 2022/23 Championship season.

This suggests the Swansea star is a clinical finisher, in the same way that the former Ipswich and Coventry star rarely misses a chance to score with his respective clubs.

Like Delap and Gökeres, the Slovenian international is a powerful number nine who likes to duel with central defenders and put his body on the line, ranking in the top 25% of strikers in the league for winning aerial duels (64 times).

Vipotnik could therefore be better suited to make the step up to the physicality and intensity of the Premier League, as he is not a weak striker who cannot win duels against strong defenders.

Both his physical and technical qualities mean he could be Ipswich’s new Delap or Coventry’s new Gokeres, which makes his estimated £15m price tag ahead of the summer transfer window seem like a bargain.

Vipotnik is a clinical finisher and a decisive goalscorer and has the potential to be the key piece either club needs to survive in the top flight, but Ipswich and Coventry must complement their striker reinforcements by signing players around them who can ensure they are competitive.