Ipswich Town could look to Chelsea for Leif Davis replacement: View | OneFootball

Ipswich Town took a huge stride forward in their last-gasp comeback over fellow promotion rivals Southampton, but there is more work to do if they want to get over the line and keep hold of some of their best talent.

A failure to progress into the Premier League after the season Kieran McKenna's side have had would come as a huge disappointment, and would likely lead to players such as Monday's first scorer, Leif Davis, departing to make the jump themselves.

Clubs routinely have to plan for situations they would rather avoid, and the case will be no different inside Portman Road.

Were the club to lose Davis in this scenario, they could find a temporary solution in Chelsea academy prospect Somto Boniface, an exciting young left-back who is making waves at Cobham.

As is to be expected for a team unexpectedly disrupting a league in the way that Ipswich are, many of their players are being assessed by clubs further up the pyramid, and the case is no different with Davis.

The 24-year-old has been key to everything the Tractor Boys have done this season, making 37 Championship starts so far this season, notching two goals and a remarkable 19 assists, more than anyone else in the league.

That has piqued the interest of clubs such as Newcastle United and West Ham United, both of which are thought to be keen to bring the full-back on board.

Davis is a lifelong Newcastle fan, so an advance from Eddie Howe's side may prove difficult to turn down, regardless of the Tractor Boys league placement next season, but failure to win promotion would make it even harder to keep the defender at Portman Road next season.

Chelsea's Somto Boniface could be the temporary fix if necessary

Should Ipswich not go up this season and the valuation of Davis is met over the summer, then the Tractor Boys could look towards Chelsea's youth setup for a replacement in the form of Somto Boniface.

The 18-year-old has been attracting attention this season in the under-18's Premier League and Premier League 2 and was recently included in The Standard's top 50 London youngsters.

He's appeared nine times at left-back for the under-18's and is already displaying a similar creative spark to Davis, having notched two goals and one assist.

As with any young loanee, Boniface - yet to turn out for a senior side - would present a slight risk when moving away from the reliability of a player like Davis, but McKenna is renowned for nurturing young talent through his stints in the youth setups at Manchester United and Tottenham.

Ipswich will want to do everything they can to keep hold of Davis, and Boniface may be too raw to rely on in the Premier League next season, but introducing him into a Championship side may prove a cheap alternative to gambling a higher fee on a senior professional.

Ipswich showed strong determination against Southampton

McKenna and his team will be hoping that plans for this eventuality can be left firmly in the bottom drawer and forgotten about, and one step towards ensuring that would be gaining a place in the Premier League.

The fight they showed when they welcomed direct promotion rival Southampton to Portman Road suggests they have the sort of momentum behind them that sees teams come out on top.

Having notched the opener, only to concede a Che Adams equaliser just seconds later, could have knocked the wind out of many side's sails. Things looked worse when the Saints took the lead less than 10 minutes later.

But McKenna once again proved his worth, dealing effortlessly with the surprise injury to Kieffer Moore after 36 minutes, before a triple substitution just past the hour mark produced a goal almost immediately.

That set the scene for Jeremy Sarmiento to grab the winner in the seventh minute of added time to secure all three points in what was a dramatic affair.