Ipswich Town backed to pocket Omari Hutchinson-style fee for Kieran McKenna favourite with "huge" potential | OneFootball

Football League World's resident Ipswich Ton fan pundit discussed the form and future potential financial upside of star winger Jaden Philogene

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...

Ipswich Town have embarked upon a steady return to the Championship after suffering relegation out of the Premier League, with the early 2025/26 evidence suggesting that the best is very much yet to come from Kieran McKenna's promotion-tipped side.

The Tractor Boys' introductory form has been similar to that of Southampton, who finished below them in the Premier League and have also received strong backing for an automatic promotion push. Ipswich have taken 10 points from their opening seven matches, which have yielded two victories, four draws and an unexpected defeat away to Preston North End in August.

But, with crunch upcoming fixtures against bitter rivals Norwich City and, after the international break, league leaders Middlesbrough, McKenna's men will be bidding to really kick-start their campaign and mount a winning streak. A number of players are perhaps yet to hit the heights this term at Portman Road.

However, Jaden Philogene has proved an exception to the rule and is finally showcasing his best form with Town after completing a reported £20 million switch from Aston Villa back in January.

Philogene, who had struggled for regular football under Unai Emery following his swift £18 million return to Villa from Hull City courtesy of the activation of a buy-back clause, which prevented Ipswich from landing his services last summer, finally moved to East Anglia at the start of the year but struggled for both fitness and form in the Premier League, though a stunning brace away to Manchester United was a sign of just what he could do.

The former Cardiff City and Hull winger registered 12 goals and six assists during his last foray in English football's second-tier, promptly earning a return to Villa Park, and has seamlessly adapted to life back in the Championship with four strikes from his opening seven outings, including a notable hattrick in the 5-0 rout of May's play-off finalists, Sheffield United, last month.

He has stepped up rather admirably to fill the void left by Nathan Broadhead and, in particular, Omari Hutchinson, the latter of whom departed in a staggering £37.5 million move to Nottingham Forest in the summer, and with Philogene's electric start to the campaign in mind, one must wonder just how far the 23-year-old can go, and how much Ipswich's admittedly-expensive gamble on his services could pay off in the years to come.

Ipswich Town backed to pocket Omari Hutchinson-style fee for Jaden Philogene - he has "huge" potential

Football League World asked our resident Ipswich fan pundit, Adam Wilkin, whether he believes the club's £20 million outlay for Philogene can prove to represent a bargain if the tricky and talented wide-man's trajectory of fine form continues.

In Adam's view, a full pre-season campaign with Philogene returning to his favoured role on the left-hand side of an attacking trident behind the striker, as opposed to operating wide-right, is helping Ipswich to see the £20 million player they signed from Villa earlier this year.

Adam believes that the Villains academy product has a "huge amount of potential", which, if realised, could elevate him to a higher ceiling than the aforementioned Hutchinson, thus potentially entitling Town to an even greater transfer fee further down the line.

"It's clear that Jaden's in good form at the moment and has a huge amount of potential," Adam explained to FLW.

"The recruitment team and McKenna have clearly seen something in him, and it's taken a while for him to settle in. Obviously his last couple of years have been a bit uncertain with his good form at Hull getting a move to Aston Villa, which probably isn't where he wanted to be at that time.

"But obviously Villa had that [buy-back] clause in, struggled to get regular football there, and then came into an Ipswich side that was struggling with relegation. He had to play on his less-favoured side on the right as well.

"But, now he's had a full pre-season playing in his favoured left-wing spot, and the fact that we've figured out the tactics to get him in the right positions and get the best out of him now, I think there's definitely a £20 million player in there.

"When you consider how much Omari Hutchinson went for, I think Jaden has the potential to be at least as good, if not have potentially a higher ceiling. So I think he could prove to be a very good value buy."

Jaden Philogene, Ipswich Town exploits should be no surprise

It's perhaps no real surprise to see Philogene emerging as a star performer in the Championship, having ignited the division during a memorable single season with Hull prior to his return to the West Midlands. The former England youth international was often unplayable at the MKM Stadium, with his game featuring the X-Factor goal threat which had eluded him in an otherwise-positive loan spell with Cardiff City the year before.

Whereas Philogene helped Hull to finish within a whisker of the top-six, he was part of a Cardiff side battling against relegation and the Bluebirds' blushes were only spared by a six-point deduction imposed by the EFL on Reading. Nonetheless, despite only scoring four times in the Championship, Philogene's electric speed and mesmerising flair was something to behold at Cardiff, and he has only kicked on ever since.

Now, he's an established top-bracket operator at Championship level, and should continue to be for the duration of the campaign in Suffolk.

However, Philogene's potential is also considerably higher — as evidenced by the above sentiment and, of course, Ipswich's outlay — and they will hope he can help fire the side back to the promised land at the very first attempt of asking before going on to prove himself as a top-flight star, of which he is more than capable of doing.