Across four years and 51 signings, Kieran McKenna has rebuilt Ipswich Town with a clarity that stands out in modern football.
The number is big, but the truth is simple: only a handful of those players shaped the identity, rhythm and ambition of the project.
These are the signings who mattered, the ones who shifted the direction of the club and helped carry Ipswich from League One uncertainty to Premier League belief.
The summer Ipswich went up to the Premier League felt like a turning point. There was a different energy around the place, a sense that the club had stepped into something bigger.
Liam Delap, arriving that summer, summed it up. Young, powerful, Premier League‑read it was the sort of signing Ipswich simply wouldn’t have been in the conversation for a couple of years earlier.
He only stayed the one season before moving on this past summer, but he left behind a higher bar.
You could see what McKenna wanted from his forwards: aggression, directness, a willingness to run at defenders.
Leif Davis is probably the clearest example of a player who grew with the club. When he arrived, he had the raw tools but not the consistency.
Under McKenna, he turned into one of the most dangerous full‑backs in the EFL.
His energy down the left, the timing of his runs, and the quality of his delivery changed the way Ipswich built attacks. Davis didn’t just fit the system; he helped shape it.
Azor Matusiwa came in this season, and even though he’s still new, you can already see why McKenna pushed for him.
He plays with a calmness that settles everything down.
Matausiwa reads danger early, moves the ball quickly, and gives Ipswich a bit of control in matches that can easily drift away in this league.
It’s early in his career at Ipswich Town, but he already looks like someone who gets what McKenna wants from that position.
Some signings don’t need long stays to leave a mark. Massimo Luongo is the best example of that. He arrived quietly, almost unnoticed, and ended up becoming one of the most important midfielders of the whole McKenna era.
His calmness, his intelligence, and his ability to settle a match were priceless. He’s gone now, but you only have to think back to that promotion push to remember how much he held things together alongside the captain at the time, Sam Morsy
George Hirst, meanwhile, was one of those players you only really appreciate when he’s not there.
He’d run himself into the ground most weeks, dragging centre‑halves around and giving everyone else a bit of space to breathe.
It was never about him sticking up big numbers it was the graft, the hold‑up stuff, the way he kept moves alive.
When he played, Ipswich looked more joined‑up. When he didn’t, the whole front line felt a bit flat, and you could tell something was missing.
When Ipswich reached the Premier League, they needed someone who could do something out of nothing.
That’s when Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke arrived. Signed during the club’s brief top‑flight stay, he brought personality and a bit of swagger.
Even now, back in the Championship, they give Ipswich a different spark down the left wing
He forces defenders to panic. He forces managers to adjust. He gives Ipswich a different kind of threat.
And then there’s Sindre Walle Egeli — the Championship‑record signing, and a young lad living in a different country for the first time.
It’s a big move for anyone his age at 19 years old, never mind stepping into a squad that’s been through as much change as Ipswich. But it has taken him a while to get things going in the team
He’s sharp on the ball, confident, and plays like someone who actually wants responsibility rather than hiding from it.
His arrival shows that the club aren’t just thinking about now, they’re building something that lasts.
Ipswich may be back in the Championship, but the identity built through McKenna’s key signings hasn’t gone anywhere.
Some players stayed briefly, some became pillars, and some are only just starting.
But each one arrived at the right moment and helped turn Ipswich Town into a club with clarity, belief and direction, qualities that matter even more when you’re rebuilding again.
