Football League World
·28 August 2024
Football League World
·28 August 2024
Lyle Foster is set to join Ipswich Town from Burnley in a loan-to-buy deal
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
Burnley's Lyle Foster is closing in on a move to Ipswich Town, with a loan deal including a mandatory deal for the Tractor Boys to acquire the South African for £25m next summer.
Such revelations were broken by Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri via X on Tuesday evening, as the Clarets look set to lose yet another key asset following their relegation from the Premier League, with Ipswich news outlet, TWTD, relaying such interest as they target other options aside from Chelsea's Armando Broja.
It was reported earlier on in the window that the South African forward had revealed a stance which claimed he was open to staying with the Turf Moor outfit as they look to regain their top-flight status at the first time of asking under Scott Parker.
However, those feelings look to have gone out of the window as Kieran McKenna's side look to strengthen their squad after beginning the Premier League season with expected defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City.
Foster's time in East Lancashire has been well-documented since signing under Vincent Kompany from Belgian side KVC Westerlo for a reported £12m fee in January 2023.
The 'Bafana Bafana' international scored once in 11 Championship outings following his initial move, before an indifferent Premier League campaign.
He would register three goals and two assists early on in the campaign, before taking a seven-game absence through mental health issues.
The 23-year-old would then continue to feature regularly, but failed to hit the same vein of prior form, scoring just two goals in the remaining half-season, before accumulating an assist in the Clarets' opening day rout at Luton Town on August 12th.
Given the recent developments surrounding a move to Portman Road, FLW's Burnley fan pundit, Nathan Rogers, issued somewhat of a mixed verdict on the situation.
"Look, I'm pretty annoyed about the Lyle Foster deal if I'm being brutally honest," Rogers began.
"We've looked after him at the club. He had well-documented mental health issues and we let him have time off and paid his wages, and the fans really supported him as there's now a big gathering which surrounds mental health awareness and support."
"The fans have really endeared to him," our fan pundit continued. "To now all of a sudden hear he could be moving to Ipswich is pretty frustrating."
Rogers concluded: "We seriously need to bring in some recruitment urgently."
Foster's departure would see the Clarets once again receive a significant fee, but continue the fire-sale trend which has already seen the likes of Wilson Odobert, Sander Berge, Anass Zaroury and Ameen Al-Dakhil depart, whilst Dara O'Shea and Aro Muric have already completed moves to the aforementioned Tractor Boys.
Furthermore, it seems that Luca Koleosho, Wout Weghorst, Josh Brownhill, Zeki Amdouni and Vitinho could all join Foster in the mass exodus of star names at Turf Moor, which at such a late stage of the window, doesn't exactly give Parker the greatest amount of room to manouvre a number of deals.
With such a hefty influx of cash that looks set to be added to, the former Fulham and Bournemouth boss now has plenty to ponder when it comes to reinvestment, particularly in forward areas, as the aforementioned departures leaves just Andreas Houtondji and Jay Rodriguez as the club's only options as natural centre-forwards, meaning that incomings in this area of the pitch must be a necessity before Friday's 11PM deadline.