Ipswich Town will need to have a clear-out this summer before Premier League football gets underway.
As much as everyone involved with Ipswich Town would have been overjoyed at clinching promotion up to the Premier League, there would have been some lingering doubt in the air over who would be kept on or who would be moved on to pastures new right after the dust had settled on all the ecstasy.
Kieran McKenna and Co will now look to clear out some of the deadwood still present at Portman Road in order to build the strongest squad possible capable of not buckling under the pressure of playing in the top-flight, a tight-knit and strong unit needed to defy the odds.
Dominic Ball could be a casualty, therefore, this off-season with his contract expiring next month and the former Tottenham Hotspur’s man fringe status in Suffolk not exactly representative of his high wage compared to other key first-teamers.
Dominic Ball’s time at Ipswich Joining Ipswich from Queens Park Rangers when McKenna’s men were still languishing in League One, the 28-year-old has been a competent utility figure in the camp across two seasons when called into action.
Able to play in defensive midfield or across a back four, Ball has managed to amass 35 appearances for the now Premier League Tractor Boys with a meagre ten second-tier contests under his belt this dramatic season just gone.
The former Spurs youth product would only start one of these games for McKenna’s promotion-chasers, with his position in the Ipswich squad on very shaky ground now after going up automatically.
It looks likely that Ball will walk out of the door this coming June with McKenna waving goodbye to the deadwood in his ranks, especially when you consider the versatile 28-year-old has been pocketing a healthier salary than both Wes Burns and Massimo Luongo despite that named pair being fixed first-teamers all season under the ex-Manchester United coach.
Dominic Ball’s wage at IpswichBall rakes in an excessive £6.1k, according to Capology, despite finding himself on the fringes at Portman Road for the majority of his side’s promotion-winning campaign.
Both Burns and Luongo must feel incensed that they both earn less than Ball – earning a lesser £5k-per-week salary each – considering they have both accumulated 82 appearances in all competitions this season and have both been key to McKenna’s men now boldly entering the Premier League.
The crucial Tractor Boys number seven would fire home Ipswich’s opening goal on the final day to ease early nerves and grab that integral three points to move up, adding another strike to his account for the season with that goal which finished at six strikes.
Luongo, who was also on the books at Tottenham as a youngster like Ball before Ipswich came calling, has also been a steady presence in the centre of the park regardless of his lesser salary- the 31-year-old only missing three league games all campaign long.
Ball’s excessive pay packet doesn’t quite see him enter into the top five earners on the wage bill when looking at the table above, but releasing the reserve figure will be a top priority so Ipswich can redistribute the salaries out more evenly and give the likes of Luongo and Burns increases for all their hard work.
Ball will be gutted that he doesn’t get to test himself in the top flight, even if his minutes would have been irregular, but a severing of ties looks almost inevitable with his contract nearly up in Suffolk.
