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…
With ten points claimed from their last four matches and a place in the FA Cup Fourth Round secured, Ipswich Town have entered 2026 on a clearly upward trajectory.
Now in third place in the Championship and breathing down the necks of second-placed Middlesbrough, there’s a growing feeling that Town’s stay in the second tier following relegation at the end of 2024-25 could turn out to be a brief one.
But we’re now approaching the midway point in the January transfer window, and this gives clubs the opportunity to tweak their squads ahead of the races that are yet to come.
And Ipswich Town have been rumoured to be giving consideration to an audacious move for the West Ham and England striker Callum Wilson, who is set to see his contract with the Premier League strugglers terminated this month owing to a lack of minutes.
Ipswich Town backed to sign West Ham’s Callum Wilson – but ‘worry’ remains
Callum Wilson
Football League World have spoken to our Ipswich fan pundit Adam Wilkin about this potential move, and Adam is optimistic that a move for WIlson could work, given that Ipswich’s strikers this season haven’t quite worked out as might have been hoped: “I think Town could definitely do with a different type of number nine potentially, given that in terms of finishing it’s not really worked with George Hirst, or even Ivan Azon, or even Chuba Akpom when he’s played there the first half of the season.”
Adam can see how Wilson could add an extra dimension to his club’s attacking options, and how this could benefit them as they chase down a quick return to the Premier League: “Callum Wilson is the player that probably provides that, and that’s the thing our strikers have been lacking so far. I don’t think it’s an essential place that we need to recruit for in January, but his experience and his ability to find the net, maybe as a supersub coming on when we need a goal or to help break teams down in a low block, could be very useful.”
But he also has one reservation about making a move for the West Ham striker: “My only worry about Wilson himself is his injury record. Hirst has had injuries recently, so do you want two players who’ve had injuries recently taking up places in the squad when they could be used elsewhere? I’m not sure, so I’m kind of on the fence on that one.”
Callum Wilson has the goalscoring pedigree, but his injury record is a clear concern
Callum Wilson
With over 250 appearances and almost 100 goals in the Premier League alone under his belt, as well as nine caps and two goals for the England national team, there’s little doubting Callum Wilson’s attacking pedigree. He’s got experience in the Championship, having scored twenty goals in the 2014-15 season to help Bournemouth to promotion.
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But it is also fair to say that Wilson’s injury record hasn’t been good, and for some time. A succession of problems have impacted his ability to play regularly over the last few seasons; since he signed for Newcastle United from Bournemouth in September 2020, he’s only played thirty league games or more in a season once.
This season, he has managed 4 goals in 17 appearances in the Premier League for West Ham United, a figure which becomes more impressive when we recall that only eight of those appearances have been starts, and it’s always considerably more difficult to score goals when your team is labouring near the bottom of the league table.
And if nothing else, even the suggestion of Ipswich’s interest in the striker is a sign of their ambition. They’re not looking around the bargain bins for players to boost their team ahead of their chase for a return to the Premier League. Callum Wilson has stayed fit so far this season, has a goalscoring pedigree, and at 33 years of age, he has the experience. He could be a crucial piece of the jigsaw, if Ipswich Town are to make sure that their return to the Championship is to be a brief one.
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