"Would be a decent addition" - Ipswich Town linked with swoop for 18-goal forward: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ipswich Town will be looking to extend their winning run in League One to seven games next weekend when they head to Pride Park to face Derby County.

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Currently third in the League One standings, the Blues know that they will need to continue to pick up positive results in the coming weeks in order to maintain a push for automatic promotion.

Ahead of the club's upcoming clash with Derby, Ipswich have been linked with a move for Colby Bishop.

According to a Patreon report from Alan Nixon, the Blues are keeping tabs on the Portsmouth forward and could make a move for him if they secure a return to the Championship later this year.

18 yesterday by netting a brace for Pompey in their victory over Bristol Rovers.

Here, three of our FLW writers have offered their thoughts on whether signing Bishop this summer would be a good move by Ipswich.

Alfie Burns

It’s hard to argue with Bishop’s record in League One this season, and it’s little surprise to see clubs linked with the forward.

He’s scored 18 goals in 37 appearances and notched four assists to go with that.

The 26-year-old has been brilliant for Pompey and they’ll have a task on their hands retaining him in the summer.

Ipswich’s interest catches the eye, mainly because they have ambitions of planning for a season back in the Championship.

Bishop’s record in League One suggests he’s ready for the step up, so you’ve got to sit here now saying he would be a decent addition to Kieran McKenna’s squad.

It’s worth noting, though, that there’s a step up into the Championship and the level is far better than League One.

If Ipswich do win promotion, Bishop alone won’t be all they need.

Billy Mulley

I can see why Ipswich would want a striker like Colby Bishop given the style of football the Tractor Boys play and the fact that the Portsmouth forward is a scorer of all sorts of goals.

A player who can threaten when operating on the shoulder of the last defender, he can also hold the ball up and bring others into play, whilst his knack for scoring goals has been evident across League One over the past few seasons.

Of course, promotion to the Championship remains a very real possibility and you get the feeling that Bishop would be able to adapt to the second tier.

If promotion is not achieved, then Portsmouth will fancy their chances of keeping hold of their talisman but equally, it would be no surprise if Championship interest was to surface, regardless of whether the Tractor Boys win promotion.

Josh Cole

This definitely has the making of being a good signing by Ipswich if they are able to convince Bishop to make the switch to Portman Road later this year.

With George Hirst and Tyreece John-Jules set to return to their parent-clubs following the expiry of their loan deals, Ipswich will need to strengthen their options in this particular area of the pitch and thus Bishop could be a good fit.

The forward is surely now ready to play at a higher level than League One as he has shown yet again this season that he is capable of causing havoc for opposition defenders.

As well as providing 22 direct goal contributions for Portsmouth in the third-tier, Bishop has managed to win 3.9 aerial duels per game and is currently averaging an impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.02.