Ipswich struck gold selling "unplayable" ace for 7400% more than they paid

Ipswich Town might not have a win to their name yet this season, but they are fighting hard to stay in the Premier League.

Kieran McKenna’s side have looked reasonably impressive in their nine games, and while they might not be blessed with top-flight talent throughout their squad, they do have a number of goalscorers who could prove pivotal.

However, as with all teams, the Tractor Boys have also signed their fair share of poachers who endured mixed fortunes at Portman Road, including one signed by Mick McCarthy, who was then moved on for a sizable profit.

Ipswich’s current goalscorers

Before getting to the player in question, let’s look at a couple of the goalscorers who might just help Ipswich stay up this season, starting with potentially the best of the lot, Liam Delap.

Despite a slowish start to the season, in which he scored once in five games, the former Manchester City ace has now racked up five in ten games, and while there is plenty of time to go, he is looking like one of the more inform strikers in the league this year.

However, if last season is anything to go off, he’ll have some competition from Conor Chaplin, who ended last season as the club’s joint-top goalscorer with 13 goals across all competitions and already has one goal and one assist this year.

Lastly, if Saturday’s game is an indication, then George Hirst could also be in for a big campaign; as in what was his first Premier League start, the 25-year-old marksman scored and assisted a goal, all within the first half.

However, while the Blues are currently stacked with players who could fire them to safety, they are missing one from last season who they sold years beforehand for a hefty profit.

Kieffer Moore’s Ipsiwch record

The player in question is Welsh international Kieffer Moore, who endured two very different spells as an Ipswich Town player.

The Suffolk side first signed the striker for a meagre £10k in January 2017 from Forest Green Rovers.

While he showed glimpses of ability, he received very little playing time and made just 11 appearances for the team before going on loan to Rotherham that summer and then being sold to Barnsley the following January.

However, the good news was that The Colliers agreed to pay around £750k for the then-25-year-old, meaning the Tractor Boys sold him for a whopping 7400% increase on the fee they paid just 12 months earlier.

The next few years would see the Torquay-born marksman begin to find his feet. After a successful campaign in the third tier with Barnsley, he earned a move to Cardiff City, where he impressed enough to earn a move to promotion-chasing Bournemouth in January 2022.

The “unplayable” striker, as dubbed by former manager Scott Parker, helped fire the Cherries into the top flight, but after a campaign and a half, he finally rejoined Ipswich on a short-term loan last season, where his seven goals and one assist in 18 games helped the club make their way back to the Premier League.

This season has seen the 46-capped international remain in the second tier with Sheffield United, but at 32 years old, he’s had a career to be proud of.

Ultimately, Moore might have only impressed during his second stint at Portman Road, but he at least earned the club a tidy profit following his first.

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