Striker Devante Cole set for West Brom as long-serving Conor Townsend heads to Ipswich
Albion are on the verge of signing free agent striker Devante Cole with fellow frontman Brandon Thomas-Asante poised to seal his Hawthorns exit.
Former Barnsley centre-forward Cole, 29, was released by the Tykes this summer after an impressive 18-goal campaign in League One as his previous club finished sixth.
The rangy striker started his career as a youngster at Manchester City more than a decade ago and has since turned out for Bradford and Fleetwood, among others, in the Football League. He enjoyed a decent campaign of 12 goals with Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership in 2020/21 and spent the last three seasons with Barnsley.
His last two seasons yielded a return of 16 and 18 goals in the third tier after two goals in 27 appearances in his debut Barnsley campaign, in the Championship.
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Ipswich Town on the verge of completing £750k West Brom transfer swoop
Ipswich Town are reportedly in talks with West Bromwich Albion over a move for Conor Townsend, with a deal set to be struck for the experienced left-back’s services.
As first reported by TWTD, the Tractor Boys have been looking at the possibility of acquiring the experienced defender ahead of their first campaign as a Premier League side since 2002.
And as since been reported by Express & Star journalist Lewis Cox, Townsend is all set for the move to Suffolk, where he will provide competition for Leif Davis, in what The Telegraph’s John Percy claims is a £750,000 deal.
West Brom’s preparations for the forthcoming season of their own are starting to intensify, with rumours in recent days focusing more on those currently in Carlos Corberan’s squad who look set for pastures new by the time the Championship season gets off and running on 10th August.
The Spaniard guided Albion to a fifth-place finish last term, but they were unable to join the aforementioned East Anglian side in the top flight after being defeated by eventual play-off winners Southampton in the play-off semi-finals.
Corberan has earned high praise for his transformation of the West Midlands outfit since taking charge in October 2022, but this summer has seen a number of experienced players depart the football club, with a high amount of player turnover already taking place, and such trends look set to continue between now and the close of the transfer window on August 30th.
Conor Townsend set to swap West Brom for Ipswich Town
Despite the aforementioned Townsend still being a part of the experienced core of players which remain at The Hawthorns, the club are now set to lose his services to the Premier League new boys.
The initial report from TWTD stated that initial links between Ipswich and the Albion defender surfaced on Wednesday morning, but things have clearly advanced due to local West Midlands reports stating that Townsend is on the way out.
Ipswich are said to be looking at bringing the 31-year-old to Portman Road to provide adequate cover to Leif Davis, who excelled in the Championship last term with his defensive nous and accumulation of outstanding creative metrics as back-to-back promotions from League One to the top flight were achieved by any team for the first time since 2012.
This isn’t the first time Townsend has been linked with a move to East Anglia, having been the subject of a bid from Ipswich back in the summer of 2018, prior to the club’s relegation to League One.
Conor Townsend’s spell at West Bromwich Albion
The Hull City academy graduate eventually moved to B71 in the same window, and has become a cornerstone of the West Brom defence under an abundance of managers and head coaches, initially signing under Darren Moore following the club’s relegation to the Championship in 2018.
Since then, the full-back has gone on to be the club’s first choice left-back in both the second tier and a one-season stint in the Premier League back in 2020/21, where he made just 25 appearances as a result of a knee injury.
