"I hear " - Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit drops claim on Kieran McKenna's Ipswich Town future | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie has given his take on whether Kieran McKenna could depart Ipswich Town this summer.

Lee Hendrie has admitted that a desire to manage in the Premier League could entice Kieran McKenna to leave Ipswich Town this summer.

The Tractor Boys have had a damaging season in the top flight, falling well short of mounting a bid for survival.

With just four matches remaining, they find themselves 15 points adrift of 17th-placed West Ham United, having mustered only a single league win in 2025.

Yet, Kieran McKenna's stock has barely dropped with memories of their recent promotion seasons still firmly in the minds of the Portman Road faithful.

Next season, they will be looking for an immediate return to the top flight with their net spend of £107.6 million in the summer 2024 window likely to place them as one of the favourites for promotion. Of course, Ipswich supporters would want McKenna at the helm, but could he be enticed elsewhere if an option arrived?

Last season, they fended off Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester United to retain their manager and according to Football Insider, they are expecting approaches this summer.

Lee Hendrie expects Kieran McKenna to draw interest

Speaking exclusively to Football League World about McKenna's future at Portman Road, Lee Hendrie admitted that he expects the 38-year-old to attract offers again this summer.

"This is the problem with teams that get relegated from the Premier League and have had success beforehand," Hendrie told FLW.

"The club have stuck by him all season when it would have been easy to switch and try something else. I know he is very well-liked at the football club.

"The thing with Kieran is that he is going to attract football clubs. He has done this before - he was back in the Championship and he stuck with the football club. They will be strong and have the potential of bouncing back. Obviously, you feel they will lose players, but he is capable of attracting players to that football club - a big football club as well, and a big fanbase.

"It will be down to whether it suits Kieran McKenna. You feel he would stay at the football club, but if a Premier League club comes knocking, that is where most managers are striving to be.

"The relegation of Ipswich might make him consider something else. I hear good things - that he wants to stay with Ipswich Town - and that might be the case; they can get promoted and have a good go at it again."

Ipswich will be desperate for Kieran McKenna to stay

Kieran McKenna was the catalyst behind Ipswich's rise from League One to the Premier League, but this season has proven a really damning one for him. But, the Tractor Boys hierarchy have stuck by him and this faith may be repaid by their head coach.

In all likelihood, he will receive offers, but unless a club can present him with a compelling project, you’d argue that he is best served by remaining at Portman Road.

As previously mentioned, Ipswich are still on an upward trajectory, and this relegation should prove only a brief setback - a single season - in their ambition to become an established Premier League side. McKenna appears a manager ready for the top flight, and the lessons he has learned during the 2024–25 campaign will only have served to strengthen him as a head coach.