Coventry City will have looked at Ipswich Town with envy over £750k signing
As Ipswich Town prepare to return to the Championship, they will be hoping that some of their star players can rediscover the form they showed during their previous spell in the division.
After winning back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, Ipswich returned to the top flight for the first time in 22 years last season, but the step-up in quality proved to be a little too much for them.
Having spent almost the entire season in the bottom three, the Tractor Boys were relegated with four games still to play, and they eventually finished second-bottom of the table with just 22 points to their name.
However, Ipswich still have many of the squad from their previous promotion Championship campaign on their books, so they are widely expected to challenge for an immediate return to the Premier League next season, and forward Conor Chaplin is one of those who will likely be a key part of manager Kieran McKenna’s plans.
Ipswich Town struck gold with Conor Chaplin, Barnsley deal
Chaplin joined Ipswich from Barnsley in July 2021 for a fee in the region of £750,000, and he was one of 19 signings made as part of Paul Cook’s big summer rebuild.
Given that Chaplin helped the Tykes reach the Championship play-offs the previous season, it was seen as a big coup for the Tractor Boys to land his signature, and after a mixed first year at Portman Road, he showed exactly why the Suffolk outfit were willing to splash the cash on him.
Chaplin scored an incredible 29 goals and provided five assists in 52 appearances to help Ipswich to automatic promotion from League One in the 2022-23 season as his side accumulated a total of 98 points, and the 28-year-old finished as the joint-top scorer in the division.
There were some question marks over whether Chaplin would be able to deliver in the Championship, but the forward adapted seamlessly to life in the second tier, netting 13 goals and registering nine assists in 47 games as McKenna’s men completed the remarkable feat of consecutive promotions, and five of those goals were decisive winners that earned his team a crucial 15 points.
Chaplin found the jump to the Premier League a little tougher, and he scored just one goal and provided one assist in 22 league appearances last season, with only 10 of those coming from the start, but he did miss over three months of the campaign with a knee injury.
After his role in Ipswich’s back-to-back promotions, Chaplin’s Portman Road legacy is secure, but his former club Coventry City may be looking on with jealousy at what he has been able to achieve during his time in East Anglia.
