He left in 2015: Ipswich loan flop is now outscoring both Delap & Lath

As many expected, this season has been a tough one for Ipswich Town.

However, unlike other promoted teams in the past, Keiran McKenna’s Tractor Boys have put up a serious fight in the majority of their games so far, and while the defeat to Southampton on the weekend was a bitter blow, there is still a genuine chance the club could stay up.

If they manage to beat the drop, then much of that will be down to the sensational efforts of striker extraordinaire Liam Delap, who has far exceeded the expectations of fans and pundits alike this term.

However, even though the Englishman has been talismanic up top, he and Emmanuel Latte Lath, who was heavily touted for a move to Portman Road last month, are being dramatically outscored by a former loan player who left the club in 2015.

Delap and Lath’s form this season

Ipswich decided to splash £20m on Delap in the summer, and while there was an element of risk in signing a young striker with minimal Premier League experience, he’s since repaid them in spades.

For example, in just 24 appearances for the side, totalling 1795 minutes, the Winchester-born “super talent,” as dubbed by Danny Mills, has scored nine goals and provided two assists.

That means that in his first full season of top-flight football, the 21-year-old phenom is averaging a goal involvement every 2.18 games, or every 163.18 minutes.

However, given his extreme importance to the team, it wasn’t all that surprising to see the Suffolk side linked with several other number nines during the winter window, including former Middlesbrough ace Lath.

The Ivorian international racked up an impressive tally of 11 goals and three assists in 31 appearances, totalling 1791 minutes, for the Championship side this term, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.21 games, or every 127.92 minutes.

However, instead of remaining in the second tier or moving to Ipswich, the 26-year-old made a surprising move to MLS side Atlanta United for a league-record fee of £17.55m.

While the Anoumabo Marcory-born marksman would have been a valuable addition to the squad, the player McKenna could really do with is a former loanee who’s now outscoring Lath and Delap.

The former Ipswich loanee outscoring Delap and Lath

So, given how well Delap and Lath have been playing this season, the striker who’s outdoing the pair of them would have to be someone quite remarkable, which means it should come as no surprise that the player in question is, of course, Chris Wood.

The New Zealand international joined the Tractor Boys on a short-term loan deal in February 2015 but made just eight appearances and left without a single goal or assist to his name.

Over the next ten years, he’d go on to play for Leeds United, Burnley, Newcastle United and most recently, Nottingham Forest, where, after a slow start, he has since reached stratospheric levels.

The Auckland-born goal-machine initially moved to the City Ground on a short-term loan with an obligation to buy in January 2023 from the Magpies and scored just one goal in seven games.

However, the 33-year-old sharpshooter took a massive step forward the following season and ended up with a brilliant haul of 15 goals and one assist in 35 games, which he’s already bettered this year.

Wood vs Delap vs Lath
Players	Wood	Delap	Lath
Appearances	25	24	31
Minutes	1947′	1795′	1791′
Goals	17	9	11
Assists	2	2	3
Goal Involvements per Match	0.76	0.45	0.45
Minutes per Goal Involvement	102.47′	163.18′	127.92′
All Stats via Transfermarkt

In just 25 appearances for Nuno Espírito Santo’s Tricky Trees, the “outstanding” number nine, as dubbed by Match Of The Day pundit Stephen Warnock, has found the back of the net on 17 occasions and provided two assists to boot and is currently the joint third top goalscorer in the Premier League, alongside Alexander Isak.

It has been a meteoric rise from the 74-capped Kiwi, and with a new contract under his belt, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

Ultimately, Ipswich have their own incredible marksman in Delap, but we can’t help but imagine that McKenna would love to have Wood in his squad as well.