Ipswich Town set to offer long-term contract to first-team regular | OneFootball

Ipswich Town may not have a fixture this weekend, with scheduled opponents Coventry City playing in the FA Cup semi-final, but that doesn't mean there is silence from Portman Road.

With the Suffolk-based side firmly in the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League, Kieran McKenna is using his free time this weekend to plan his squad for next year, even if the Tractor Boys fail in gaining promotion.

One decision that looks likely to be made this weekend is the tying down of current first choice goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky, with the Czech stopper's contract expiring this summer.

Ipswich Town planning Vaclav Hladky contract extension

As reported by Alan Nixon, via his Patreon, this morning, Ipswich plan on holding onto their towering Czech keeper with a new long-term contract.

Hladky, aged 33, has taken on the number one jersey this season, following two years of bit-part appearances for the club, and having performed admirably for the Tractor Boys, the club want to offer him a stay beyond this summer upon the end of his current agreement.

The plan is to offer the 6ft 2in keeper a three-year deal, which at Hladky's current age - and considering the division that Ipswich may be playing in next season - may be too good to turn down.

He has been a mightily impressive presence between the sticks this season, keeping 14 clean sheets across 43 matches in the Championship, so Ipswich would do well to keep an experienced - and now important - player around.

Vaclav Hladky has been one of Ipswich Town's best performers this season

Coming into this season, the Czech-born keeper had played back-up to Christian Walton, making only 24 appearances across the 21/22 and 22/23 seasons combined.

However, following injury to Walton before the start of this season, the typically benched goalkeeper stepped up to fill in between the sticks.

Arguably, he did more than fill in during his first few games though. An impressive performance in his first game against Sunderland followed by a clean sheet during a home victory against Stoke City meant he earned himself the number one spot and ousted the stricken Walton as first choice in the league.

On paper, his stats make for positive reading, and if he were to be leaving on a free this summer against Ipswich's wishes, he would make for hot property.

As mentioned, he has kept 14 clean sheets this season from his 43 starts. However, on top of that, he has only conceded 53 goals from 164 shots faced, and the deeper you dive into these stats, the more you can see why McKenna wants to keep ahold of his Czech goalkeeper.

As with the natural pecking order of goalkeepers, as soon as one asserts dominance, the other doesn't really get a look in ever again, and this has been the case for Ipswich's two keepers.

Since returning from his injury, Walton hasn't been able to force his way back into contention during what is looking like a promotion campaign for the Tractor Boys.

Add to this the fact his contract expires this summer, and Walton does now look set to depart Portman Road, ending a four-year stay at the club.

The club do have the option to extend his contract another year, according to Transfermarkt, but with planning likely to be firmly on making the squad Premier League ready, should they get there, the trigger is unlikely to be pulled.

With the summer fast approaching then, McKenna has seemingly begun the preparations for a new squad, with some old faces, for the Premier League, and the fact he's securing his first choice keeper to begin with, means he's building from the foundations up and may look to take whichever division Ipswich end up in for 2024/25, by storm.