West Bromwich Albion have reportedly agreed a fee to sell defender Conor Townsend to Premier League new-boys Ipswich Town.
A fee of £750,000 is the reported figure for the 31-year-old who is having a medical in East Anglia today after making over 200 appearances for the West Midlands side.
Townsend’s dependable EFL career
Townsend joined Hull City at the age of eight and progressed through the youth ranks but never made a mark on the first team.
He had four years of loan spells with the likes of Grimsby Town, Chesterfield, Carlisle United, Dundee United and Scunthorpe United making a total of 111 appearances overall.
The full-back made a single appearance for his parent club before joining Scunthorpe United in 2016 on a permanent deal. In his two-year spell with the Iron, Townsend made 88 appearances and was a key part of the team that lost in the League One playoffs in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
In 2018, the left-back signed a three-year deal with current employers West Brom and despite a slow start to his Baggies’ career he has gone on to make, to date, 231 appearances for the Championship side scoring four goals.
The 31-year-old was a member of the side that won promotion to the top flight in 2019-20 and played 25 games in the Premier League.
His consistent performances have attracted interest from Ipswich and a reported deal has been agreed between the two clubs for Townsend to play in the Premier League once again.
How will Townsend fit in at Ipswich?
Townsend’s former manager at West Brom, Valérien Ismaël, praised the full-back on his consistency and development:
“Since I have been here Conor has played at a high level with consistency. He is a flexible player with the skill and profile we need.
“So far, he has improved in every game for us, especially in different positions such as centre-back, where he has got even better. He has adapted to our philosophy and hits the numbers we need”.
Despite his performances, Townsend will likely play as back-up to Ipswich’s first-choice left back, Leif Davis.
However, Townsend offers defensive solidity and was part of a West Brom side that kept the second-most clean sheets in the league last season with 18 and had the third-best goals conceded record with an average of one goal per match.
Individually he shone as well with a tackle success rate of 73.2% at an average of 1.18 tackles won per 90 minutes. Coupled with this is 59.8% and 60.7% of duels and aerial duels won respectively.
Townsend could be a good option for Town to use in games when they need to sit deep or protect a lead given his defensive solidity compared to his potential teammate in Davis.
Having played at centre-back during his time under Ismaël, the defender could provide an option for the Tractor Boys on the left side of a back three with Davis playing the wing-back role.
With Premier League experience already having played in the division with the Baggies in 2020/21, it would be a sensible piece of recruitment for Ipswich and will give them competition in the left-back area.
Townsend would become the sixth signing for Ipswich after Omari Hutchinson, Ben Johnson, Jacob Greaves, Liam Delap and Aro Muric have all joined so far ahead of the new season.