Latest Ipswich Town news: Jack Colback pursuit, Kieran McKenna's Sunderland admission, Nathan Broadhead words | OneFootball

There is a lot of buzz surrounding Ipswich Town this summer following their superb campaign in League One last year.

Kieran McKenna’s side earned promotion to the Championship in the manager’s first full season in charge at Portman Road.

The team earned an impressive 98 points, albeit that was still only good enough for second in the table.

It earned automatic promotion back to the second tier after a number of disappointing seasons in League One.

The summer has provided the club the chance to improve the first team squad in order to fully prepare for life back in the Championship.

What is the latest news surrounding Ipswich Town?

McKenna’s side will be aiming to be competitive next year, with new signings being targeted to help with that ambition.

Here we look at the latest news surrounding Ipswich Town’s preparations for the upcoming campaign…

Jack Colback pursuit

According to Alan Nixon, Ipswich have set their sights on signing Jack Colback this summer.

The former Nottingham Forest player is currently a free agent following his exit from the City Ground earlier in the year.

However, the Tractor Boys face competition from Birmingham City and West Brom in the race for the 33-year-old.

The midfielder helped the Reds gain promotion to the Premier League last year, but featured just 11 times in the top flight last season.

That led to his exit at the end of the season, with Forest not renewing his contract.

Colback has previously played in the Premier League for the likes of Newcastle United and Sunderland, and also enjoyed a stint with Ipswich in the early years of his career.

Sunderland admission

McKenna has admitted that he is already studying the tape on Sunderland’s strengths and weaknesses ahead of their opening day clash next month.

Ipswich will face the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light in their Championship return on 6 August.

McKenna is currently preparing his side for the fixture during pre-season and has revealed that he already has a game plan in mind for when they visit Tony Mowbray’s side.

"There are some players that everyone with an interest can guess will play if they’re fit at the start of the season," said McKenna, via the Sunderland Echo.

"There are no big surprises.

"We always plan a little bit for each individual team. We started looking at Sunderland a bit already, looking at their strengths, where we can do well against them and where we can try to hurt them.”

Ipswich will be targeting a winning start to life back in the second tier, but face the side who finished sixth in the Championship in the previous campaign.

Premier League ambition

Nathan Broadhead has claimed that his ambition is to compete in the Premier League with Ipswich.

The forward is eagerly anticipating the club’s return to the Championship next month but he has his sights set on a promotion charge already.

While he has played down any expectation that this will come immediately, claiming that the immediate goal remains to maintain their position in the division for another year, he has also revealed his goal is to guide the club back to the top flight.

“I expect myself to bring the best out of Ipswich Town and get them to the Premier League,” said Broadhead, via TWTD.