According to national media, Ipswich Town’s bid to sign Blackburn Rovers forward Sammie Szmodics was rejected.
The Blues’ first bid is thought to be about £6 million, with Rovers apparently seeking £20 million for a man who scored 27 Championship goals last season. It is unclear whether the two clubs can meet somewhere in the middle.
The EADT and Ipswich Star understand that Ipswich were cold when the 28-year-old was first proposed to them earlier this month, with manager Kieran McKenna preferring to focus his recruitment on young players he can develop.
Since then, Town have been beaten to the signing of Jaden Philogene by Aston Villa, while Nathan Broadhead has suffered a pre-season injury that may put him out for the start of the Premier League season.
Marcus Harness started as the inside left forward in Saturday’s 1-0 pre-season triumph over Shakhtar Donetsk, while striker Freddie Ladapo also played in that position.
Szmodics was born in Colchester and played over 150 games for the U’s in League One and League Two before joining Championship team Bristol City in 2019.
After struggling to break into the Robins’ first team, he was loaned to Peterborough United in January 2020, where he scored twice in a 4-1 loss of Ipswich.
Szmodics eventually signed a permanent contract with Posh, assisting the club in gaining promotion to the Championship.
Following Peterborough’s immediate relegation, Szmodics returned to the Championship by signing for Blackburn Rovers for about £2.5 million. The versatile forward, who can play on the left or as a No.10, scored 33 goals in all competitions last season, helping Rovers finish 19th in the Championship standings. His previous season high was 16 goals in League One.
Szmodics did not play in Blackburn’s preseason friendlies in Austria over the weekend.
