Ipswich Town urged to sign Millwall star and "Germany's answer to Jamie Vardy" | OneFootball

Football League World have asked our resident Ipswich Town fan pundit for one player he'd absolutely love his club to sign between now and September.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

With the start of the 2025-26 season just around the corner, EFL clubs are still looking left, right and centre for new players to strengthen their squads.

Ipswich Town will be pressing for an immediate return to the Premier League, and they've so far brought in four new players.

But they've not yet replaced Liam Delap, the talismanic striker who's left the club for Chelsea following a stunning season in the top flight.

With money in the bank from their season in the Premier League and the sale of Delap, and having kept hold of sought-after manager Kieran McKenna, Ipswich are in a strong position to challenge during 2025-26, but there are still additions that they could make to further strengthen.

Ivanovic and Harres suggested as new strikers for Ipswich

With all of this mind, FLW have spoken to our resident Ipswich fan pundit Adam Wilkin, and he had two suggestions for a position that he feels Ipswich need to fill more than any other.

Adam believes that a striker is really what Ipswich need, with Delap not having been replaced.

"The most noise with the least delivery we have had so far in this transfer window this summer has been over a striker", he told us, "We've been linked with Premier League loans, some of whom went elsewhere, Agyemang ended up at Derby, a few other players. Along with midfield, I feel that's where we need to strengthen the most."

The first of Adam's suggestions will already be familiar to fans of Championship clubs: "A striker tends to be a statement signing, and there's two that I absolutely love. One is Mihailo Ivanovic, who played for Millwall last year. He's very similar George Hirst in that he's good at running in behind, knows where the back of the net is, scores quite a few headers and performs his defensive duties quite well. He's only 20, and I think he proved that he could cut it in the Championship, so he's got room to develop, but he's also proven within that league as a goalscorer and I think realistically a move to a side pushing for promotion to the Premier League could appeal to him."

Adam's other suggestion will be less familiar to fans in England: "He's Germany's answer to Jamie Vardy, Phil Harres. He currently plays for Holsten Kiel. He was at the Dortmund youth academy but he never really cut it and ended up playing non-league football, working his way up from the German fourth and fifth tiers. He signed for Holsten Kiel in the Bundesliga last year and scored 8 goals in 26 games. Similar to Ivanovic, he's quite tall, good at pressing from the front, good at making blocks and clearances, knows where the back of the net is, and he's an excellent finisher. So I think either of those I'd be happy with as a competition striker for George Hirst."

Liam Delap's departure has left a hole that Ipswich haven't yet filled

The money received from Chelsea for Liam Delap will be most welcome to Ipswich, but they haven't really filled the gap left by his departure yet, with the new arrivals at Portman Road this summer having been goalkeeper David Button, centre-back Cedric Kipre, right-back Ashley Young and defensive midfielder Azor Matusiwa.

And the gap that Delap leaves behind him is not an inconsiderable one. He scored a third of Ipswich's 36 Premier League goals last season, and while George Hirst has strengths as a player, he's only scored 16 goals in 73 league appearances since joining on loan - and subsequently permanently - from Leicester City in January 2023. It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that he needs support.

There are less than two weeks to go until the start of the new season, but Ipswich will have until the end of August to find someone to complement George Hirst. We shall see, whether they give consideration to either of Adam's suggestions or not.