Ipswich rivalling Coventry City to sign a better player than Nunez & Rudoni

Ipswich Town and Coventry City are likely to be linked to plenty of the same players between now and when the summer transfer window ends in September.

That is both because it is easy for agents to put the two automatically promoted teams in the same bracket when drumming up interest in their player, and because they are likely to be looking in the same markets.

They are both set to be busy because they need to improve their squads to compete in the Premier League, and they have been set a blueprint to follow by Leeds United and Sunderland after they both avoided relegation.

Ipswich and Coventry have both been linked with Solly March, Will Lankshear, Zian Flemming, Lois Openda, and Zan Vipotnik, and the list is unlikely to end there.

They need to add some genuine, proven, quality to their squad in the same way that Leeds did with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Sunderland did with Granit Xhaka.

Ipswich and Coventry competing to sign Premier League playmaker

The Tractor Boys and the Sky Blues, who played out a 2-0 win for the former in their last meeting in the Championship, could look to add some proven quality in the number ten position.

Jack Rudoni and Marcelino Nunez are both untested and unproven in the Premier League, and both clubs are looking at a talent who would be even better than both of them.

According to TEAMtalk, Ipswich Town and Coventry City are two of the clubs interested in a deal to sign Ethan Nwaneri from Arsenal in the summer transfer window.

The report claims that the two newly-promoted teams would be open to bringing the England U21 international in on loan for the 2026/27 campaign, should the Gunners make him available.

However, Newcastle United, Como, Aston Villa, and Everton are also said to be keen on the young Englishman and could be willing to do a permanent deal for him this summer.

Nwaneri is said to have reservations over his role under Mikel Arteta next season, after spending the second half of the current campaign on loan at Marseille, and could be on his way out of The Emirates.

Why Ipswich and Coventry must push to sign Ethan Nwaneri

Whilst it remains to be seen how viable a loan move is for the left-footed star, Ipswich and Coventry must push each other hard to secure his services because he would be an upgrade on both Nunez and Rudoni.

Neither of those players have ever played a game in the Premier League and neither of them hit double figures for goals or assists in the Championship, despite playing for dominant teams who won promotion.

Rudoni and Nunez did not deliver exceptional output in the Championship in dominant teams, so they should not be expected to be standout players in the Premier League in teams that will be fighting relegation.

That is why Ipswich and Coventry would both hugely benefit from securing a loan deal to sign Nwaneri, who has shown that he can be a difference-maker at the top level.

Nwaneri scored two goals and provided one assist in nine Ligue 1 games on loan at Marseille in the second half of this season, after struggling for game time at Arsenal in the first half of the campaign.

In the 2024/25 campaign, the 19-year-old magician showed real signs of promise at Arsenal with nine goals and two assists in 37 appearances in all competitions, whilst Rudoni and Nunez both failed to hit more than seven goals in the Championship.

That included a haul of four goals and two assists in 11 starts in the Premier League for Arteta’s side, which shows that he can be effective in the top-flight when given an opportunity to play regularly.

Nwaneri, who was described as a “phenomenal” talent by pundit Stephen Warnock, is the kind of signing Ipswich and Coventry need to make to move the needle in their squad, as Sunderland and Leeds did with Xhaka and Calvert-Lewin.

Whilst he is not vastly experienced, the left-footed star is an attacking midfielder who has proven that he can win points for his team with goals and assists at the top level, and that is exactly what the newly-promoted teams need to stay up in the Premier League.