Ipswich Town have made a strong start to their return to the Championship.
Following promotion from League One after finishing second last season, manager Kieran McKenna has managed to put Ipswich in a position that no one expected.
The Tractor Boys are currently second in the second tier, holding one of the two automatic promotion berths.
They are ten points behind league leaders Leicester City, but only have a three-point lead over third-placed Southampton.
The Saints are also on an 18-game unbeaten league run, so they will be optimistic of overtaking Ipswich in the automatic promotion positions in the coming weeks.
Going into the January transfer window, McKenna’s team had failed to win any of their previous five league games, putting them in a perilous position with Southampton closing in on them.
This has pushed Ipswich to enter the transfer market and complete several transactions in order to strengthen their team for what will be a crucial second half of the season as they seek an unexpected return to the Premier League after 22 years.
Jeremy Sarmiento was their first acquisition, with the tricky attacking midfielder joining on loan from Brighton in the Premier League after spending the first part of the season on loan at fellow Championship club West Bromwich Albion.
Town then signed their second player, midfielder Lewis Travis, on loan from Blackburn Rovers.
Who exactly is Lewis Travis?
Travis, a 26-year-old midfielder, has been with Blackburn since he was 18.
He has made almost 200 league appearances for the club since his first team debut in July 2016, scoring six goals.
Until his temporary departure to East Anglia, he was their club captain.
Travis is mostly a defensive midfielder, as evidenced by his six goals in almost 200 games. He is also capable of playing right-back, making him a versatile player.
Many people were taken aback by his decision, given that he was the club captain. He has also been a fixture with Rovers this season, making 20 Championship matches, 12 of which were starts.
Morsy and Luongo are left with a bitter taste
What this could mean for Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo, however, is bittersweet news.
The Ipswich squad lacked depth in one aspect, defensive midfield.
Morsy and Luongo have been constants in the midfield for Ipswich this year and last, and they are crucial to McKenna’s style of play.
However, aside from the two of them, there are no other viable defensive midfield alternatives in the Town squad.
Jack Taylor has been solid for Ipswich in the holding role, but the Irishman prefers to move forward.
McKenna now has another experienced defensive midfielder at this level in Travis, who can provide depth in that part of the field.
However, this may imply that Luongo and Morsy’s game time will be limited, as Travis will not have come to Ipswich to sit on the bench.
Luongo and Morsy may also be disappointed if their game time is limited in the coming month, with both denying themselves the opportunity to represent their respective countries at upcoming continental tournaments (Morsy with Egypt at AFCON, and Luongo with Australia at the Asia Cup, though he announced his international retirement last month despite the fact that he would have been called up).
With Travis being a very good option for McKenna to rotate, it will be interesting to watch how he handles the amount of game time given to all three as he attempts to push Ipswich back into the top flight for the first time since 2002.
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