Is Daryl Murphy Destined For Boro?

There is news today in a number of gossip columns that David McGoldrick might be on the move again!

The 27 year old joined us initially on loan from Coventry at the beginning of 2013 before signing a two year contract later that year and apart from a couple of long term injuries he has never really looked back.

In fact, before the rise of Daryl Murphy he was Town’s top striker, scoring a very creditable 16 league goals in his first campaign with the Tractor Boys.

The reason of course that Murphs rose to prominence was because McGoldrick incurred a partial tear of a medial ligament in his right knee which kept him out for almost three months.

He returned to full fitness at the beginning of last season however and scored the winning goal against Fulham in the opener at Portman Road in front of the Sky camera’s.

Sadly for David, injury once again curtailed his involvement in the Championship run-in last term but this was after Leicester City had shown an interest in the January transfer window with a bid believed to be in access of 7 million but the blues were not prepared to let him go cheaply and since then he has represented Ireland at international level too, which is an indication of his continued development.

It was in the home F.A.Cup third round tie against Southampton that he suffered another injury, this time to his hip and although the first prognosis did not suggest a long term problem, he remained out of contention for the rest of the season.

The fact that Derby County are interested might suggest that Town think his injury prone career might make him a bit of a liability.

We must not forget that throughout his career he has been sidelined with injury woes of one sort or another and he underwent a shoulder operation in the 2010-11 season whilst he was with Nottingham Forest and was again out for a number of months.

His family appear not to have settled well in East Anglia also fueling doubts about his stay-ability at the club.

Add to that the fact that we have acquired both Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman of late and there is every reason to believe that there may be more to these rumours than meets the eye?

As a player he has undoubted talent and it is little wonder that he is attracting the interests of a number of Championship clubs and the talk is that both Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday are also monitoring the situation as things stand.

There is news too that Town have told Middlesbrough that they want at least 5 million for Daryl Murphy. The Boro have had two bids turned down so far and the last one only fell short by a half a million or so if you can believe the rumours that is?

At the end of the day though every player has his price and whilst 5 million seems like a great deal for a Championship player at the twilight of his career, we must not forget that he took the Championship by storm last season and was the leading scorer with a staggering 27 goals!

Back to McGoldrick and at just 27 years he has a few more years at the top of his game but will injuries prevent him form realizing his true potential?

Mick McCarthy and the board have some big decisions to make in the coming weeks but if David was to go to one of our fiercest rivals, it is very unlikely we would get anywhere near the 8 million we were holding out for when Leicester came knocking.

The hope remains that if he does eventually leave it will be to a Premier outfit because that way he would be out of our hair and the club might just get their true evaluation of the player.

What do you think? Should he stay or should he go? Are Town wise to show him the exit door and if this really is the case then surely it makes a mockery of our strategy to keep our team together at all costs!

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich