You’d be hard-pressed to find a fanbase who have been on more of a roller coaster ride than Ipswich Town supporters over the last few years.
Before Kieran McKenna joined the club, they were languishing in League One, but within two and a half years of being at the helm, the Northern Irishman has led them up to the Premier League.
Now, the inexperienced manager has obviously played a hugely significant role in the Tractor Boys’ astounding resurgence, but he has also been helped by his often underrated squad, both those at the club on permanent deals and those who have spent loan spells at Portman Road along the way.
That said, the youngsters bought in on temporary deals during and just before McKenna’s reign have been a real mixed bag, with some doing exceptionally well and others less so, including one attacker from a London club who couldn’t make it work in East Anglia but has since seen his valuation soar.
Ipswich's London loanees
Before getting to the player in question, let’s look at some other youngsters who have joined Ipswich from sides in the capital over the last few years, starting with one who did fantastically well, Omari Hutchinson.
Yes, the former Chelsea prospect joined McKenna’s revolution at Portman Road on a season-long loan last summer and, throughout the 23/24 campaign, showed the Portman Road faithful just how unbelievably talented he is.
In 50 appearances, the Redhill-born gem scored 11 goals, provided six assists and won the club’s Young Player of the Year award for the men’s team, which was unsurprisingly enough to tempt the powers that be to spend £20m on him this summer.
Appearances
50
Minutes
2562′
Goals
11
Assists
6
Goal Involvements per Match
0.34
Minutes per Goal Involvement
150′
However, not every loan player from London has had as much luck as the former Chelsea ace, as Tottenham Hotspur youngster Dane Scarlett’s loan move last season went the other way entirely.
The promising young striker joined the Blues on a season-long loan just a month after Hutchinson, but unlike the dynamic midfielder come winger, he struggled to make any sort of impact at all.
From late August to late December, the young Englishman played just 146 minutes of senior football across 12 substitute appearances, in which he failed to score or assist a goal.
Unsurprisingly, this led to him being recalled back to North London, as it became clear that regular football would not come his way under McKenna.
Unfortunately for the Lilywhites, the 20-year-old poacher hasn’t been their only youngster to become a loan flop at Ipswich in the last few years.
The former Ipswich loan flop who is on fire this season
Yes, the former loan flop in question is another ex-Spurs youngster who joined Ipswich ten months before McKenna did, Troy Parrott.
The then-18-year-old joined the Tractor Boys on a six-month loan while the club were still in League One, and while that should have allowed him to show his ability, things just didn’t work out for the forward.
During his stint at Portman Road, the Dublin-born marksman was given plenty of opportunities to play and racked up 18 appearances, totalling 1141 minutes by the time he returned to London, but in those appearances, he scored just two goals, one against Plymouth Argyle and one against Fleetwood Town on the final day of the season.
It was a rather dismal showing from the young poacher, and while he did much better at MK Dons the following season, scoring ten goals and providing seven assists in 47 appearances, the campaign after that was just as poor as he scored just four goals in 34 games for Preston North End.
However, things would again go his way during his final loan move last season, when he found the back of the net 17 times and scored five goals in 32 matches for Dutch outfit Excelsior Rotterdam.
Yet, that still wasn’t enough to secure his future in N17 and during the summer, he was sold to Eredivisie giants AZ Alkmaar, but thanks to his form in the country last season, he netted the Lilywhites a hefty fee of £6.7m according to reports at the time.
Now, considering Transfermarkt valued the Irish international at just €3.6m – £3m – just a few months before he joined Ipswich, that means his value has skyrocketed 123%, or in other words, increased by at least £3.7m.
MK Dons
47
10
7
Preston North End
34
4
0
Excelsior
32
17
5
Ipswich Town
18
2
0
AZ Alkmaar
16
8
2
Millwall
14
0
1
Tottenham
4
0
0
That said, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it rise again before the end of the season, as in just 16 appearances for his new team, the “phenomenal” marksman, as dubbed by former manager Ryan Lowe, has already scored eight goals and provided two assists, equating to a goal involvement once every 1.6 games.
Ultimately, Parrott was an unmitigated flop during his stint with Ipswich, but it’s fair to say that in the years since he’s proven himself to be a reliable and effective goalscorer.
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