Ipswich Town have overhauled their recruitment strategy this summer, becoming the Premier League's fourth-biggest net spenders behind only Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, as new manager Gary O'Neil looks to avoid a repeat of last season's immediate relegation. Under previous boss Kieran McKenna, promotion was built largely on domestic talent familiar with English football, but that approach struggled to bridge the gap to the top flight, prompting a shift towards more varied international recruitment this time round.

Ten new players have arrived for a combined £106.6m, including the club's first-ever Brazilian signings in Emersonn and Florentino Luis, as well as Serbian midfielder Sasa Lukic and Japanese forward Daizen Maeda; Chuba Akpom, signed from Ajax, is the only Briton among the purchases. This marks a stark contrast with 2024, when 10 of Ipswich's 12 summer signings were British or Irish players from other English clubs, and with McKenna's four-and-a-half-year reign overall, during which 32 of 39 permanent signings were British or Irish. That earlier model helped Ipswich rise from League One to the Premier League via back-to-back promotions, but the Blues finished second-bottom with just 22 points in 2024-25, prompting the rethink now being tested under O'Neil.