Ipswich boss Paul Cook makes transfer admission amid Portsmouth, Oxford, Charlton and Rotherham concerns

The big-spending Tractor Boys have so far signed 10 new players ahead of the new League One season – a transfer splurge which has been bankrolled by their recent takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd.

This week former Pompey forward Conor Chaplin and Rangers defender George Edmundson became the latest high-profile new signings to arrive, reinforcing the bookies’ belief that the League One title is affectively Ipswich’s to lose following a ninth-placed finish last year.

The Portman Road outfit’s extravagance in the transfer market has caused concern among third-tier rivals, with Pompey boss Danny Cowley previously admitting ‘crazy’ spending in the division was hampering his own recruitment drive.

Oxford manager Karl Robinson is another who has commented on the issue, while Nigel Adkins (Charlton) and Rotherham boss Paul Warne have both spoken about the impact it will have moving forward.

Cowley also revealed that he had lost out on a significant loan deal in the past few days, after being ‘blown out of the water’ by a major League One rival.

The News understands that player was Edmundson, while a loan move for former Fratton favourite was also under consideration.

Nevertheless, Ipswich’s dominance of the transfer market looks set to continue, with a month of the summer window still remaining.

And as Cook plots his next move, he thanked the Ipswich board and new chief executive Mark Ashton for helping to deliver players of the highest standard for this level.

He told the club website: ‘I can’t thank the board and Mark Ashton enough because we are signing players that some might have thought were out of our reach.

‘We’ve kept our recruitment standards high this summer and the last two signings, with George and Conor coming in, are further evidence of that.’