Ipswich Town might well be savouring the time off they’re experiencing this international break, having been faced with a difficult opening few Premier League ties.
Liverpool and Manchester City one after the other to open their top-flight campaign was a cruel opening combo, whilst Marco Silva’s Fulham weren’t exactly pushovers either.
Losing to both the Reds and City was to be expected, but Kieran McKenna will take some comfort from the fact they at least managed to pick up a point versus the Cottagers to get off the mark in the league.
Liam Delap scored in that 1-1 draw, but Ipswich’s most memorable goal of the season actually came away at the Etihad, when new recruit Sammie Szmodics momentarily put the Tractor Boys ahead.
Szmodics’ signing at Ipswich
Szmodics will hope he has plenty more moments of magic like that up his sleeve across the tiring season to come, but with his new Suffolk employers ending up victorious and not losing 4-1.
The former Peterborough United man joined the ranks at Portman Road as a renowned deadly finisher of chances, having picked up the Championship golden boot for another of his ex clubs in Blackburn Rovers just last season, by firing home 27 strikes.
Constantly terrorising Championship defenders with his ice-cold ability to finish under pressure, the new Ipswich number 23 would have become an instant fan’s favourite when sending the away masses into raptures in Manchester.
It’s not as if the former Riversiders man was purchased for a staggeringly high amount either, with McKenna’s side landing the free-flowing EFL goalscorer for just £9m in the middle of August.
Amazingly, one deal that happened all the way back in 2005 for ex-Ipswich youngster Darren Bent to move to Charlton Athletic would actually see the now retired striker move for more money, if the same switch took place in today’s inflated market – according to TotallyMoney’s Transfer Index.
What Bent would have cost Charlton in 2024
Away from the original £4m the Addicks forked out at the time for Bent, this same transfer swoop would cost the current League One outfit £9m more at the £15.7m mark, as per the Transfer Index.
That would still be seen as somewhat of an attractive deal for the Greenwich side, even by the standards of lesser fees in the noughties, when you consider the then wide-eyed striker’s appetite for goals.
Bent’s goalscoring record at Ipswich | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Season | Games played | Goals scored | Assists |
04/05 | 50 | 20 | 16 |
03/04 | 38 | 16 | 0 |
02/03 | 44 | 18 | 0 |
01/02 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
Sourced by Transfermarkt | |||
Bowing out from Ipswich – much like Szmodics at Blackburn – in his goalscoring prime with 20 goals and 16 assists managed from 50 clashes during his swansong campaign, Bent would go on to become a Premier League established striker after this with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Sunderland and many more.
But, it could be argued he was at his free-flowing best in Suffolk and Ipswich just couldn’t refuse the bumper offer from Charlton at the time, not knowing he’d later be a reliable performer in the top-flight for a wide array of teams.
Bent’s £4m sale is ninth in the top ten when it comes to record departures at Ipswich, with the bumped up amount of £15.7m theoretically moving him up to top of this list, beating out Tyrone Mings who currently holds the top space at £9.5m when he moved to AFC Bournemouth in 2015.
Back to the present day, Szmodics will aim to be Ipswich’s next hero in attack in a similar manner to goal machine, Bent, as McKenna’s underdogs continue to take each Premier League fixture as it comes in their battle to beat the drop.
