Ipswich Town set price for Kieran McKenna amid Crystal Palace speculation

The former Manchester United manager would cost a potential new club up to £4m to leave Portman Road, according to Alan Nixon.

Ipswich have been a standout team in the Championship so far this season, with their form putting them in the automatic promotion queue.

This follows the club’s promotion to the second tier of League One in May.

McKenna guided the team to a second-place finish last season, returning Ipswich to the Second Division after a four-year absence.

Previously, it was reported that Premier League side Crystal Palace had put McKenna on their shortlist of potential new managers. While Roy Hodgson is doing well at the London club, the Eagles are preparing for some time after the 76-year-old is likely to retire soon.

However, Palace may not be the only club looking to possibly hire McKenna at some point in the near future.

While no other teams have emerged as a potential next destination, the team’s amazing form in the Championship is sure to attract attention.

In that event, the Ipswich hierarchy are already thinking ahead and have placed a price tag on his head.

It will cost any interested parties up to £4 million to convince the Suffolk outfit to let the 37-year-old leave Portman Road, should he wish to.

Otherwise, Ipswich will not part with one of their key assets so easily.

The record fee paid to sign a manager was when Bayern Munich paid over £20 million to sign Julien Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig.

Chelsea paid a similar fee for Graham Potter from Brighton, but £4 million would still be a big figure for a manager working in the Championship.

How has Kieran McKenna fared at Ipswich Town?

McKenna is coming up on his second anniversary at Ipswich, having joined the club in December 2021.

He previously worked as a coach at Man United, first with the youth set up and then as part of Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s backroom staff.

McKenna worked alongside Middlesbrough manager Michael Carrick before the pair both branched out to become head coaches in their own right.

Ipswich are currently second in the Championship, just two points off leaders Leicester City and eight clear of third place Preston North End.

McKenna has been key to building Ipswich’s promotion challenger this season, so his departure would be a huge blow.

A fee of £4 million would not make up for the difference between promotion and remaining in the Championship.

But it would allow the club to spend money to find his replacement, which could be just as useful.

There are only a handful of other managers Ipswich could get that could continue to lead the club forward in a race for automatic Premier League promotion, so it would come as a huge blow if he were to depart the club.

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Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe provided an update on his absentees after Saturday’s 4-2 defeat to Ipswich Town.

The Lilywhites’ boss made four changes for the Portman Road clash, with Ali McCann dropping out of the match day squad after featuring in midweek against Leicester City. Andrew Hughes remained unavailable with a calf problem, while Jordan Storey played no part having come down with illness in the week.

Club captain Alan Browne returned to the side, but Lowe admitted post-match that the Irishman probably shouldn’t have started – after missing the Leicester City match four days prior with a bug. North End’s manager saw defender Jack Whatmough forced off after 27 minutes against the Tractor Boys, with several problems to discuss after the final whistle.

“Ali McCann picked up a niggle from Wednesday night and Jack Whatmough was complaining about his hamstring,” said Lowe. “Again, I had to make a change but there are no excuses. We’ve got some good players and a quality squad in my eyes. That is us and we should have it where anyone can step in and do a job. (Jordan Storey) is still not well. We were hoping to get him down here, but it’s a good job we didn’t really.

“If we’d have looked at putting him in – it’s not fair. But, when you’ve got good players, who have been playing well for you, you want them in and around the team. That is no disrespect to the lads who came in – I thought they did a good job. But, whether it’s injuries or illness, there are no excuses – we just weren’t quite at it and gifted a good team some good goals.”

As for Hughes, who has been a mainstay in the starting lineup when fit alongside Liam Lindsay and Storey, Lowe will learn the full extent of his blow next week – following a chat with club physio Matt Jackson.

“Me and Jacko will go through it on Monday,” said Lowe. “It is a little bit of a complicated one, so it could be a couple of weeks, ten days, or a week. We are waiting to find out if he is due a PRP – which is an injection to help the healing. We will probably know a bit more next week on how long it’s going to be. Hopefully it is not too long.”