What Is Daryl Murphy Really Worth?

For weeks now Mick McCarthy and more recently too, the blues managing director Ian Milne have said much the same thing and that is that Town don’t need to sell these days.

It is re-assuring therefore that the club has rebuked two substantial bids from Middlesbrough for the Championship’s top goal scorer in the last few weeks.

They initially offered 4 million pounds for the ageing striker who will be 33 before the new season’s end and then they came back with another offer of 4.5 million and again Ipswich declined.

But of course every player has his price and in the case of Tyrone Mings I think we will all agree that it was a reasonable evaluation – especially in the light of who came back the other way!

I am excited by our new recruits. Brett Pitman is a proven striker at this level and Ryan Frazer is quick and skillful and can wade in with a few goals, which will ease the pressure on our strikers.

In the bad old days of Clegg and co we would almost pay clubs to take players off our hands and I suspect that if someone had muttered to Simple Simon that we could lower the entrance fees at Portman Road on the condition that supporters had to pay more to get out, then he might have thought it was a good business idea!

Under Mick McCarthy and Ian Milne the Portman ship is sailing in the right direction and our new recruits; along with the likely addition of Arsenal youngster 17 year old Ainsley Maitland-Niles, is definitely a positive step forward in our ultimate quest to reach the Premier League.

Add to that the fact that McCarthy actually has some money in his pocket – or under his bed as he recently joked then the future for the Tractor Boys is anything but bleak these days.

As for Daryl Murphy well I guess McCarthy is desperate for him to stay – although under normal circumstances taking 4.5 million for a 32 year old Championship player would be a no-brainer.

The reality however is that he is the Championships top goalscorer, striking the target a staggering 27 times last term.

He will do well to beat that figure but as he has proved with the Republic of Ireland of late, he is a team player too and creates lots of opportunities for others and his physicality plays havoc with defences.

So the question remains what price Daryl Murphy? I think the answer to that is who comes in with the best offer and perhaps only a Premier club have enough selling appeal and financial clout to persuade him to move on when he and his family are contented here.


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich