The 29-year-old international has a proven record in the second tier
Ipswich Town and Norwich City are set to wage war in an attempt to sign Jamal Lowe in the summer transfer window.
East Anglian battle for Jamal Lowe
The two rivals are expected to make a move for the 29-year-old in the summer, when he becomes a free agent after his contract with AFC Bournemouth expires, according to Graeme Bailey of TBR Football.
The outlet also reported that other Championship clubs, including Middlesbrough, Millwall and Watford, are said to be keen on the forward. TBR believe that newly promoted League One sides, Portsmouth and Derby, are also in the running to get the Jamaican.
The 29-year-old spent close to three years at Fratton Park earlier in his career, and he helped them win League Two and the EFL Trophy.
Lowe is currently on loan at Swansea City, where he has been their most productive player in front of goal, but the Swans aren’t too confident that they would be able to bring him back in the summer, because of the wages he is on at the moment with the Cherries.
Manager Luke Williams said, via the Bournemouth Echo: “I think it’s going to be difficult because Jamal is on a Premier League salary. That could be a real issue.
“Jamal’s contract in his first spell here was probably when the club were still working almost on a Premier League budget. Then he went on [to the Cherries] still on a Premier League level deal.
“But this club is no longer operating at that level. I think we have to be clear about what it’s going to look like if we are going to do anything at all.”
Jamal Lowe’s Championship record
After leaving Swansea initially to join Bournemouth in August 2022 for £1.5 million, as per the Echo, his career path didn’t stay on quite as upward a trajectory as he and many others hoped it would.
Low did help Bournemouth get back to the Premier League, in the 2021/22 campaign, but he wasn’t a major contributor to the team. Once the Cherries got to the top flight, he struggled to find his way into the team.
He was loaned out to Queens Park Rangers last season, where he struggled, but he returned to South Wales this season and picked up from where he left off with them.
| Jamal Lowe’s two seasons with Swansea City (league stats) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Starts | Goals | Scoring frequency (mins) | Conversion rate (%) | Assists | Big chances created | |||
| 2020/21 | 46 | 42 | 14 | 247 | 17 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 2023/24 | 32 | 24 | 9 | 248 | 17 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Stats taken from Sofascore – correct as of 30th April | |||||||||
Ipswich shouldn’t be too high on Jamal Lowe
The trajectory of Ipswich is sending them up to the Premier League. All they need from their final two games of the campaign is four points and they will seal their spot alongside Leicester City as automatic promotion winners for the second season in a row.
Plans will be in place for the summer window, as is evident from Bailey’s report on their interest in Lowe, but it feels like they should be aiming a little higher.
The main thing that Town’s squad is lacking, in comparison to all the other top flight teams at that level, including Leicester, is experience at said level.
Lowe, although he is contracted to Bournemouth, who are in the Premier League, hasn’t shown that he is capable of playing a big part in a team in that league.
This reported interest would be more understandable if the Jamaican was one of the best performing forwards in the second tier this season. He hasn’t been bad, but by no means has he really taken the league by storm.
If Norwich don’t get promoted, then a deal for a player like the 29-year-old would make sense. Championship proven, tactical flexibility, would help deal with replacing Josh Sargent when he’s injured; there are a lot of factors to like about him for them.
Ipswich signing Lowe, though, for the wages that he is likely to want, would feel a bit underwhelming.\
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