Claim made on £17.5m Ipswich Town star Sindre Walle Egeli - 'I'm actually quite surprised' | OneFootball

FLW's Ipswich fan pundit hopes that their £17.5 million summer arrival can ease into the side across the season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Two months into his Ipswich Town career, Sindre Walle Egeli isn't exactly hitting the extreme heights expected for someone who is the most expensive player in Championship history.

The Tractor Boys broke the second-tier spending record on Egeli, after parting ways with £17.5 million to take the 19-year-old winger away from Danish side FC Nordsjaelland, where he'd netted nine times in 2024/25 and twice already this season.

Evidently, the 2006-born star has been brought in due to the immense potential that he has, hence why not many alarm bells are ringing after a less-than-impactful start, failing to set up a goal or even hit the target himself in his opening six games.

FLW's Ipswich fan pundit, Adam Wilkin, is therefore not stressing too much and is actually hopeful that he can realise his potential at Portman Road, given the glimpses of quality he's shown thus far. He does, however, acknowledge the risk taken in spending so much on unproven quality.

Ipswich Town fan pundit assesses Sindre Walle Egeli's start to Tractor Boys career

Wilkin was actually rather surprised that Egeli has featured as much as he has during the infancy of his Ipswich career, with the 19-year-old starting four of his six Championship games at the club so far.

Willkin likened Egeli to Omari Hutchinson, whose impact in the starting eleven was a slow burner throughout Ipswich's promotion campaign two seasons ago.

Hutchinson went on to be a major player for Ipswich, not only in the Championship but in the Premier League too, and was sold to Nottingham Forest for £37.5 million this past summer, so if Egeli can follow that path, fans inside Portman Road will be pleased.

"I think there have been signs of the player Walle Egeli can become without delivering anything massive yet," Wilkin said.

"I'm actually quite surprised by the amount of game time he's had. Two seasons ago, Omari Hutchinson was slowly introduced into the team and then became a key player throughout the second half of the campaign.

"With Egeli, it seems the same, but he also seems to be getting more game time."

Of the 20 starts Hutchinson made in the 2023/24 campaign, 14 of them came in 2024, including a run of nine straight to end the season. He netted eight and assisted three in the latter half of the campaign, and Wilkin hopes that Egeli can't replicate that once he's settled.

"His defensive work worries me in terms of his covering and pressing, committing a lot of fouls and not a lot of tackles, and on the ball, it's about getting the best out of him, and I don't think we've done that yet," he said.

"The signs are there, though, and I can see why we paid the money for him, and he does have potential, but there's a risk there and a scenario where he doesn't reach it.

"But then there's the other side, where it does click towards the second half of the season, and he can get a few goals.

"He hasn't hit the target yet with any of his shots, so that's the first step, but the potential is there. He just needs to keep working hard, keep getting the minutes and, hopefully, he'll come good."

The pressure is on for 19-year-old Sindre Walle Egeli

Ultimately, fan reaction can be ruthless, and most people won't see the potential here. Instead, they'll see the £17.5 million price tag and expect an instant impact, which unfortunately has yet to surface.

Luckily enough, the goalscoring exploits of fellow attacking midfielders Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke have taken some of the limelight away from Egeli so far, but it can't be long before the 19-year-old needs to show why, in the short term at least, he was worth a hefty fee.

Of his 11 shots he's taken in an Ipswich shirt, he's yet to hit the target with any of them. Wilkin mentioned that this was step one, with step two — getting the ball in the back of the net — hopefully coming shortly after.

Many inside Portman Road will be hoping that once one falls in, Egeli's confidence will be high, and he can start to excel. Therefore, that first goal in English football can't come quickly enough.