Ipswich Town’s mission to stay afloat in the Premier League now looks extremely difficult to pull off with the Tractor Boys fixtures in the division this coming April looking tough.
Losing their last four matches in the unforgiving league means upcoming trips to the likes of AFC Bournemouth, Chelsea and Newcastle United will be incredibly challenging, alongside tricky home tests versus Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal to follow.
The bitter pill of relegation is likely to be swallowed soon, therefore, with Kieran McKenna constantly left to feel uneasy about his goalkeeper options at Portman Road this season.
Ipswich's goalkeeper woes
McKenna even felt compelled to chop and change mid-season to try and make up for some of his errors in this department, as summer recruit Arijanet Muric struggled to settle.
The ex-Burnley shot-stopper only kept one clean sheet from 19 league games when he was handed the number one jersey, representing wretched business on the end of the promoted side who forked out a hefty £15m to snap up his services ahead of the daunting 2024/25 campaign getting underway.
To add further insult to injury, Muric is now worth only £5m, according to Transfermarkt, and this illustrates just how poor his performances have been, as his value has dropped significantly this season.
Alex Palmer has since stepped in to take over from the Kosovan, but the former West Bromwich Albion ‘keeper has also looked notably shaky at points after a January switch from the Hawthorns, with just two saves amassed last time out in the Premier League when his new employers lost 4-2 to Nottingham Forest.
Therefore, there will be even more anguish now that Ipswich let this ex-shot-stopper leave for nothing all the way back in 2008, having once been a promising talent in the Suffolk side’s youth ranks.
The star now worth more than Muric & Chaplin
As is the case with various clubs all across England, certain academy talents can just slip through the net before they go on to achieve greatness.
Nick Pope exiting Portman Road 17 years ago definitely falls into this category, with the ten-time senior Three Lions international never going on to make a senior appearance for his boyhood side, before more than making a name for himself away from Ipswich.
Indeed, Pope has even gone on to be a proud EFL Cup winner for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle this campaign whilst his ex-team battle against the drop, with important saves such as this one clinching a 2-1 victory at Wembley.
Away from this one-off triumph over Arne Slot’s Liverpool, Pope has managed to solidify his status as a trusted option in between the sticks for the Magpies in the top-flight over many a season now, with the 32-year-old’s clean sheet count in the elite division only continuing to grow.
Season
Club played for
Games played
Goals conceded
Clean sheet total
24/25
Newcastle
18
26
4
23/24
Newcastle
15
16
6
22/23
Newcastle
37
32
14
21/22
Burnley
36
47
9
20/21
Burnley
32
37
11
19/20
Burnley
38
50
15
17/18
Burnley
35
35
12
Sourced by Transfermarkt
Despite some wobbly performances here and there this campaign coupled with some injury concerns, the lofty 6 foot 6 ‘keeper still boasts an admirable 31 clean sheets donning a Newcastle strip, with a bumper 71 clean sheets also next to his name from 211 overall Premier League outings.
This has led to ex-Magpies great Shay Given lauding Pope as “phenomenal” for his efforts in net, alongside the 32-year-old’s current transfer value standing at a high £8.3m – as per Transfermarkt – despite some inconsistencies in form beginning to pop up.
Despite being a promotion hero last season with 13 goals and eight assists, Conor Chaplin is amazingly worth less than Pope too, with his own value now – not helped by Ipswich’s relegation predicament – coming in short at £6.6m.
This is also a significant rise from Pope’s lesser valuation of £627k in 2016 when he first made his breakthrough at Burnley, with Ipswich’s decision to let the Newcastle number 22 leave for zilch one they must still lament.
Alongside Delap: Ipswich Town may also sell £20m star as club ready contact
He could be on the way out if Ipswich go down.
ByCharlie SmithMar 28, 2025