In a season littered with developing stories and themes, one of the earliest ones to emerge was in between the posts.
Christian Waltons pre-season injury presented the opportunity to Vlazclav Hladky to get a run of games he hadnt experienced since his, somewhat challenging, early days at Ipswich Town. Indeed, Hladckys opportunities had been so limited in 22/23 that he was offered the dubious priviledge of being given ten minutes in the final game of the season, simply to put his name in the record books as having contributed.
The story has been considerably different in the current season. What was expected to be a short period as stand-in for Walton, whilst awaiting the return of last seasons League One Golden Glove winner, has turned into a season long tour of duty as the now-established No. 1. Hladckys ability with the ball at his feet has undoubtedly added a dimension to Towns attacking play and ability to beat the opposition press. There remain question marks about his ability in other areas, most notably in controlling his area from crosses, but evidently Keiran McKenna is currently willing to accept those deficiencies ahead of those which Walton displays when passing the ball.
However, going into the summer, the current situation is unlikely to be able to continue into next season.
Firstly, whilst Hladcky has publicly insisted that his concentration is focussed on the task at hand, winning promotion, his contract situation remains unresolved and set to expire in the summer. Heavy media reports linking him with Celtic in January suggested that, privately at least, there may well be more going on than his Agent has unsurprisingly been prepared to reveal. The recent announcement that current Celtic No. 1, Joe Hart, is to retire at the end of this season, further confirms that there is an opportunity developing.
Secondly, any attempts to secure Hladcky to a new long term contract in the summer are likely to complicate Waltons own situation further. It cannot be overlooked that, whilst Walton is currently a regular on the subs bench, he was seen as a very high profile signing in January 2022, having been viewed as yet another prospect in the Brighton system, with Championship loan spells already on his CV. As a result, his transfer fee and subsequent contract would have been significant.
He also is likely to be a player unwilling to continue to spend key development years of his career as an occasional cup goalkeeper for a Championship side.
The club have built a strategy around buying future prospects that can potentially be sold on for profit to assist the development of the squad within the Profit and Sustainability regulations. But Walton is likely to represent a high-value signing whos market rate is currently much reduced and this will be further driven down by the large contract he is signed to.
Resolving the situation appears quite complicated and with no obvious positive outcome for Ipswich Town. Waltons situation is resolved if he becomes No 1 next season, but at this point that only seems plausible if Hladcky leaves, a scenario that in itself is far from ideal; losing our preferred starting goalkeeper and for no fee. Hladckys situation is resolved if he signs a new contract, but this would potentially result in Christian Walton leaving for a heavily reduced fee, potentially even at a loss to the club.
