This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
The future of Ipswich Town striker Tyreece Simpson is very much up in the air this summer.
In April, it was revealed that the 20-year-old had told the Tractor Boys hierarchy that he wished to depart Portman Road, with his contract set to expire this past June.
However, Ipswich took up the option to extend Simpson's deal by 12 months, effectively guaranteeing them a transfer fee should they wish to let the youngster depart.
In recent weeks, Championship clubs have been linked with Simpson's signature, with Middlesbrough, Luton and Huddersfield Town all said to be eyeing up the striker, who spent the first half of the 2021-22 campaign on loan at League Two outfit Swindon, where he scored 11 goals in all competitions.
Per TWTD, Ipswich are looking for around £600,000 to part ways with Simpson, but if a team don't match that figure, then it's likely that the powerful attacker will remain in Suffolk.
FLW's Ipswich Town fan pundit Henry is all for a u-turn and for Simpson to stay at the club, but he is pretty much resigned to seeing him depart for pastures new in the coming months.
"I think initially my answer would be 100 per cent yes," Henry said when asked if he would like to see Simpson remain at Ipswich.
"A young player, absolute bags of potential in terms of physical attributes, he's the perfect mould for a big striker, similar to what we see Romelu Lukaku do - pinning a centre-back and then running in-behind, using his strength to hold off the defender, both with the ball but also off the ball - he can get in-front of a defender and be pretty hard to stop.
"Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he's put in his interest to leave the club, which is completely fair enough to him if he thinks that's the best way to go.
"The manager and Mark Ashton can clearly see there is value in him to have extended his contract for another year, basically to make sure we get some resale value, which again is good business.
"Unfortunately his time at Ipswich will be coming to an end it looks like, but at least we can get a bit of value from him and a sell-on clause as well if he gets going up the league, like Flynn Downes has.
"But I think unfortunately, Tyreece Simpson's time at Ipswich is up."
The Verdict
Simpson could have potentially had a great future at Ipswich if he had just bided his time and waited for pre-season, but it looks more likely that he will not be part of Kieran McKenna's squad going forward.
The youngster perhaps thought he would be getting chances in the first-team following his recall by the Tractor Boys from his Swindon Town loan in January, but those opportunities never arose.
It's hard to see Simpson getting immediate first-team football should he take a step up the EFL pyramid, as he looks like one for the future for a club in the second tier.
However, he does possess a tremendous upside and if Ipswich are going to sell up this summer, then a sell-on clause is essential to make sure they potentially profit from his development.