Don Goodman outlines Burnley, Sheffield United, Luton evidence that Ipswich Town must learn from | OneFootball

Commentator Don Goodman believes Ipswich Town must initially focus on strengthening their defence before looking to more advanced areas.

The Tractor Boys have plenty of work to do in a number of areas during the upcoming summer transfer window, with the goalkeeping department, defence, midfield and attack all needing an injection of quality and depth.

They have reportedly triggered an extension clause in Christian Walton's contract to keep him at Portman Road for another year, which means he could compete for a starting spot with Vaclav Hladky.

Ipswich also have an option to extend Axel Tuanzebe's contract for a further 12 months, and it would be difficult to see the Tractor Boys not taking up that option, considering he's a top-quality player when fit.

Brandon Williams was only on loan, so they will need to replace him, but all of their other former loanees are midfielders or attackers.

Lewis Travis, Omari Hutchinson, Jeremy Sarmiento and Kieffer Moore are all likely to have returned to their parent clubs now - and decisions will need to be made on their futures by their respective loan clubs.

With former loanees departing and players potentially leaving on the expiration of their contracts, including Sone Aluko who is certain to leave his playing role, there's plenty of work to be done and Ipswich can't afford to have a slow start to the summer.

Don Goodman makes Ipswich Town plea amid likely 2024/25 survival quest

Goodman has seen Ipswich in action many times in recent years - and has noticed that the Tractor Boys conceded more goals during the 2023/24 season than they did during the campaign before that, when they won promotion from League One.

Conceding 22 more league goals during 2023/24, that was to be expected following their jump from the third tier, but Goodman has cited this as one reason why Kieran McKenna's side need to build from the back this summer.

He said, via OLBG: "It surprises me that, and I'm not talking about Ipswich Town, but promoted teams in general tend to spend large amounts of their money on strikers, number 10s and wide players.

"The first area promoted teams should look to solidify is the defence. It's important that nobody takes this as a dig at Ipswich.

"Sheffield United have conceded 100 goals! Luton have conceded 78 and Burnley 74. There is no team anywhere close to those numbers and there are several players in those teams who were defending successfully last season.

"Even Leicester need to strengthen their defence despite having the best defensive record this season. It's the area a promoted team suffers most in, whether that's going from League Two to League One, or Championship to Premier League.

"Ipswich, Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday all conceded a lot more goals after being promoted. If I were in charge of recruitment at any club, the first place I would look to strengthen is the defence when moving up a division.

"Anyone with half a brain can understand why that is the case. The teams promoted to the Premier League will be up against most of the best attackers in the world."

Don Goodman's warning should be acknowledged by Ipswich Town

It's a difficult one because Hladky (pictured above) and some of the defenders in front of him have performed excellently at times during the 2023/24 season.

And with this in mind, it could be argued that a number of their existing defenders deserve to start next season.

However, there's no room for sentiment at this point, with Ipswich needing to strengthen considerably if they are to be competitive during the 2024/25 campaign.

The defence does need to be focused on and it would be silly to spend the vast majority of their budget in the forward area.

However, there are a number of departments that need to be addressed and they can't afford to stick to a rigid plan and address certain areas before others.

Different targets could become available at different times - and they will need to pounce for certain signings when they have a good chance of getting a deal over the line.