Town boss Kieran McKenna has revealed that young striker Tyreece Simpson has told the club he wants to move on in the summer.

The 19-year-old was recalled from a loan spell with League Two Swindon in January having netted 11 goals for the Robins having turned down the offer of a new contract with Town. His current terms are up this summer but with the club having an option for a further season.

It been anticipated that the frontman would return to the County Ground at the end of the month if a deal was agreed but no agreement was reached and the player’s agent has now told the Blues he wants to leave in the close season.

“At the moment Tyreece is not training with the group,” McKenna said. “His representative spoke to the club a couple of weeks ago and expressed his wishes that he wants to move on in the summer, so he’s not training with the first-team group at the moment and that’s now the responsibility of the club to work with his representation and decide on a solution to that one.”

Asked whether that’s a disappointment with Simpson presumably having been someone he would have been looking forward to working with in years to come, McKenna said: “As a football club, we know the direction that we’re going in. We can only make that clear to young players in terms of how we see their development pathway, what opportunities there might be and then people are free to make the decision from there.

“At the moment that is [with] Tyreece and his representation and that’s now for the club to organise and speak to him on.”

Is there any hope of a resolution being come to or is that it, he’s definitely now going to go in the summer?

“I think that’s now a situation for the club now, to be honest,” McKenna said.

“Tyreece is a 19-year-old young man. He’s still very early in his career and I don’t think it does anyone any favours to speak about it too much or speculate in too much detail about that any further about that than what’s been said, so I think that’s the situation as it stands and that’s now between Tyreece and his representation and the club.”

It seems likely Town will activate the option in Simpson's deal in order to achieve a fee for him in the close season, a figure which is likely to be higher than the compensation which would be due if he otherwise joins another club.

Speaking about the situation with Simpson at the Fans' Forum last month, CEO Mark Ashton said: “What I would say, it’s wrong of me to talk about any individual player’s contract, but one thing I can promise our supporter base is that I will fight tooth and nail for this football club.

“This football club will not in any shape or form be agent or representative led. It doesn’t work. Doesn’t work for me, won’t work for this ownership group.

“Ipswich Town will decide where its young players go, what’s best and what contracts are put in front of them and how that works and how that pathway works to the first team.

“And it’s the same for the senior boys. We have good relationships, most of the agents across the world, we have a big wide network, and I think if you look at the careers of myself and people around me, we’ve been really successful in what we’ve done in player trading.

“Our job is to protect this football club and at times that’s tough, and it’s a tough world with agents at times.

“But we have to protect the football club and if we don’t show strength at certain times, trust me, our football club will get walked all over. I’ve seen it time and time again.

“We need to do the right thing, nothing’s ever personal, sometimes it’s business. My job is fundamentally to protect Ipswich Town Football Club and that’s what I will do right until the last second I’m here.

“But we try and do it in the right way, by the way, we have good relationships with most if not all agents and they’re happy to bring players here because we do contract and pay people in the right way, we incentivise them, we develop those contracts and on the playing side you’ve got coaches who will develop them.

“As Kieran said, this football club will be a really appetising place for young players to come for many years ahead.”

Simpson has made four league sub appearances for Town plus two EFL Trophy starts and one game from the bench.

Photo: Matchday Images

runningout added 17:28 - Apr 21 tbh I don't reckon he was suited here like some just are not. Good luck to Tyreece Simpson
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Monkey_Blue added 17:28 - Apr 21 Without having been “In the room” it's hard to know which way to feel. The issue I have with many agents is they've not played the game and see their role as generating cash… it's possible Simpson gets a career ending injury after staying on a lesser contract with us. The flip side is the agent wants to make a quick buck incase his cash cows career ends rather than thinking about the lads development. Be sorry if he goes but it does seem his agent has p155'd the club off.

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IpswichToon added 17:38 - Apr 21 Reading this reminded me of that lad who disappeared to Celtic then appeared to just fall off the face of the Earth. I couldn't even tell you his name until I read it a bit further up; Kundai Benyu. Maybe the damage here was already done before KM came in and Simpson already had his mind set. I don't know where he thinks he'll go and have a better career exactly. With our shortage of quality up-front and the clear ambition of the club, I'm surprised he didn't want to give it a go under KM's regime.

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jas0999 added 17:44 - Apr 21 Good luck to the lad. Good spell in league two earlier in the season. His career could go either way. Let's just hope his representatives aren't making poor decisions and advising him badly. That said, if he wants to go - go.
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happybeingblue added 17:58 - Apr 21 tyreece had a taste of lge 2 football which is a good standard and he bagged 11 goals,comes back here and does not get even get 20 mins in a team with strikers not scoring,so you cannot blame him for wanting more of what he experienced at swindon who will probably be favourites to sign him, not every player wants to be loaned out! u23s or league 2 football what would most players prefer and his contract has ran out, he has the choice despite agents involved it will always come down to the player, he will have spoken to his family and kieron dyer probably... who quit as he feels there is no pathway etc for young lads so he obviously thinks league football will progress his career rather than u23s.good luck to him and i am disappointed he never got a chance here.

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Edmundo added 18:10 - Apr 21 happybeingblue he may have had more of a chance had he not come back in January and refused to sign a contract in order to return to Swindon. Very strange behaviour by a player who unfortunately has had whispers in his ear and thinks he's made it. We don't want any player here thinking that: we are in L1!
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happybeingblue added 18:14 - Apr 21 why call him back if the club has zero intention of playing him? hardly helping the lads career, all a bit odd and you do not know what contract he was being offered £ wise either in fairness.
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RegencyBlue added 18:27 - Apr 21 This Club is going places with or without Simpson so Bye Bye!
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SouperJim added 18:32 - Apr 21 Easy for us fans to fight the club's corner, but if I was a young player with the size strength and ability of Simpson, I might be tempted to go play guaranteed first team football elsewhere and no doubt earn significantly more too. It's his career and his choice, good luck to him.
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Linkboy13 added 19:04 - Apr 21 His opportunities are going to be very limited here next season when McKenna strengthens the squad even more so he probably thought it's best to move on.
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Ipswichbusiness added 19:32 - Apr 21 In career terms he would have had little to lose and much to gain by signing on for a couple of years. He has chosen otherwise. Therefore, exercise the option and sell him. What happens to him after that is his affair.
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RobsonWark added 19:48 - Apr 21 Football agents are the same as estate agents. Estate agents don't care about the sellers or buyers - they just want a sale to pocket their commission. Football agents just want to get a deal that will make themselves the most money - not bothered about the players future or what's best for the player.
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Saxonblue74 added 20:17 - Apr 21 KmK was very non committal when questioned about Simpson at the recent fans forum, I knew then that we were very unlikely to see him in first team action. What's the fuss about him? He scored a couple in lge2 and has developed an attitude as so many do. If he were good enough and his head was in the right place there's no question he would have been given a chance.

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ThaiBlue added 20:30 - Apr 21 Dont blame him for wanting to leave,taken back from swindon when no need could have stayed and progresed there to benifit from playing and more experience.brought back to do contract talks and not given playing time when our so called forwards cant score for toffee.this kid deserved a chance and did not get one,hope it does not come back to bite us in the future.poor move by town.

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midastouch added 20:35 - Apr 21 Well that explains it. If his heart isn't in it and his head has been turned by his daft agent then see you later alligator!
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SuperBlue69 added 20:39 - Apr 21 Good riddance
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PortmanTerrorist added 22:14 - Apr 21 Objectively, if TS was not our own, we would not be showing interest in a youngster with half a decent season in league 2 under his belt. Maybe that reality kicked in....tho his agent may be playing a part, which will work for us if he generates interest and gets us a bigger fee
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parhamblue added 22:32 - Apr 21 Think he might be 20 now.
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stormypetrel added 07:33 - Apr 22 I see it as a sad reflection of football…Kieron Dyer alluded to it…youth pathway to the first team…money, agents, club pressure for results. Strip back the emotions of how KD presented his thoughts, KD could not aligned himself to what was happening to youth players at ITFC. I hope the TS situation is more straight forward and not further evidence of reasons behind KD leaving. That could then undermine the Gamechanger/Ashton proposition longer term

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truthsayer added 09:54 - Apr 22 You must be all mad! The lads has limited talent and lacks technical ability a league 1 player all day . What level do you think that he his agant and the club are working together. ITFC play kids to increase value, if he was a knock out player he'd have played more. ITFC need to have a output for the cat 2 status. They need input to the first team of output to other teams they all count. They are managed by a set if KPis. ITFC silently will be falling overthemselves they are selling him as it ticks boxs for the academy and the coffers.

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Len_Brennan added 10:04 - Apr 22 @happybeingblue This club, or indeed any club, is not merely a benevolent entity; of course there are obligations towards its employees, the community etc., and we all want Ipswich Town FC to behave in a manner that we can all be proud of; but Tyreece Simpson was not sent to Swindon on loan in order to primarily help his career, he was sent by the club for the ultimate benefit of Ipswich Town FC. The purpose was that he would improve his game by playing men's football at League level & gain invaluable experience doing so; thereby providing the club with someone who could become part of the long term future of the club or would get noticed by another club that might submit an acceptable offer for his services. His own development would be a byproduct. None of us know the full story as to what happened here, but a few things are clear & others have been hinted at. Ipswich wished to retain Simpson & had offered a new contract; which certainly indicated that he had a long(er) term future here in the Club's eyes. Simpson was not engaging with the club over agreeing new terms prior to & during the transfer window. The Club, rightly, assumed that he was not going to sign, certainly on the terms that he & his Agent were looking for at least. The Club was neither prepared to go beyond their own valuation of him (in terms of wages) or allow the situation to continue indefinitely and so exercised its right to call him back in order to resolve the situation. Swindon were under serious financial pressure, with a hefty debt to pay off and a transfer embargo in place, so there was no prospect of them signing Simpson for a fee - perhaps he was looking to leave on a free transfer, perhaps? Having done well, he probably compared his wages, which was his first professional contract post scholarship, so pretty meagre I would imagine, with those of some of the journeymen at Swindon & thought he should immediately be on 10 times what he is currently paid. Now all of that would be fair & reasonable for him to think & want, but he has a contract, with an extension clause, so he wasn't in the position of strength that he or his Agent seemed to believe he was; our new off-field management team are no mugs. We don't know what happened in communication with the club prior to his return from the loan at Swindon, nor do we know what was said, or how it was said, in meetings once he did come back; but clearly battle lines were drawn & the situation could not be resolved for him to return to Swindon. Once that was the case & it was clear that he wanted to leave the Club, there was no point in drafting in such a player into the first team for key matches in a renewed push for promotion, which was founded on a base of everyone buying into the methods & mindframe of the Club's new manager.

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Ipswichbusiness added 10:12 - Apr 22 Kindai Benyu has a Wikipedia page. According to that his career has been as follows: June 2017 he signed a four year deal with Celtic. He played for them four times. January 2018 he went on loan to Oldham, making five appearances. February 2019 he went on loan to Helsingborg and made five appearances. October 2020 he signed for Wealdstone making twelve appearances before he “departed by mutual consent”. February 2021 he signed for Vestri (Iceland).

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Razor added 10:26 - Apr 22 At least this is now out in the open----no doubt this guy has received bad advice and for you p older punters reminds me of the Richard Wright situation many years ago-----PITY.
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RegencyBlue added 08:34 - Apr 23 Richard Wright was a first team regular and involved with England. This kid has half a season at Swindon and by all accounts suddenly thinks he's a world beater, no doubt encouraged by his agent looking for a payday! It may come back to bite us, if it does it's one of those things, but the odds are we won't hear much more of Mr Simpson.
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