The contract for Conor Chaplin and the Ipswich Town transfer dilemma

Certain squads have recently risen from League One and won immediate promotion to the Premier League, including Norwich City and Southampton, both of which happened in the past 15 years.

Ipswich Town is a different club that plans to accomplish the same thing in 2023–24, and they are most definitely going about it the right way.

Since Kieran McKenna took over as manager in December 2021, the Tractor Boys’ fortunes have changed dramatically. He guided them to promotion last year despite not winning the third tier title, and their start to the current season is perhaps beyond their wildest expectations.

With 11 games remaining, Town is comfortably positioned in second place in the standings, earning 28 points out of a possible 33, and has already widened the distance to third-place Preston North End by eight points.

Conor Chaplin has garnered the greatest media attention since the end of the previous season among the several stars in McKenna’s current Ipswich lineup.

Chaplin is a key component of McKenna’s 4-2-3-1 formation and scored a staggering 29 goals in all competitions the previous season. He has had a strong start to 2023–24 with five goals and two assists.

What is the status of Conor Chaplin’s Ipswich Town contract?

Chaplin signed a three-year contract with Ipswich in the summer of 2021, hoping to be one of the players to help the team ultimately leave League One.

And following the heroics he shown during the 2022–23 season, Ipswich was forced to try and hold Chaplin down to a new, longer contract.

Then, in June, before the players returned for preseason, fans rejoiced as Chaplin signed a two-year extension to his current contract, which was necessary since he was approaching the end of his current term.

Chaplin will still have two and a half years left on his contract when the January transfer market opens in a few months, so even if there is interest, there won’t be a rush to sell.

What is the transfer value of Conor Chaplin? Ipswich Town shouldn’t be concerned about possible interest, right?

Chaplin’s lack of consistency during his previous Championship tenure with Barnsley makes it difficult to determine the full value of his abilities.

The 26-year-old scored 11 goals in his debut season with the Tykes but that number significantly decreased in the following campaign. He has obviously found his niche at Ipswich, though, as evidenced by his haul of 29 goals in 2022–23.

It goes without saying that players who can score at that level in League One while still being younger than their projected peak age will be quite valuable, and Chaplin’s current success in the Championship will only serve to increase his value.

Despite how talented Chaplin is in front of goal, Ipswich will likely value the offensive midfielder at over £10 million. It is difficult to imagine a Premier League club shelling out that kind of money or taking a gamble on Chaplin.

In addition, you have to wonder if the player would want to leave Ipswich and the coach under whom he is currently producing the finest football of his career.