Ipswich Town struck transfer gold where Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield couldn’t | OneFootball

Freddie Ladapo enjoyed his best ever goalscoring season under Kieran McKenna in 22/23

Both Charlton Athletic and Huddersfield Town never saw what Ipswich Town did with Freddie Ladapo.

The 33-year-old now plays for League Two club Chesterfield, having joined as a free agent at the start of January.

Given his deal with the Spireites only lasts until the end of the 25/26 season, it's somewhat of a far cry to where he could still be playing.

It's worth looking at how the striker had ample opportunity at Charlton and Huddersfield to show what he did in Suffolk - which could've meant he was still playing at a higher level.

How Ipswich Town struck transfer gold with Freddie Ladapo

Freddie Ladapo became a Tractor Boy in the summer of 2022 upon the expiration of his Rotherham United contract. But, it’s worth noting he had just fired the Millers into the Championship by scoring 15 goals the season prior, so it's not like he wouldn't have been wanted.

Ahead of Town head coach Kieran McKenna facing Ladapo a few months before actually signing him, he said, "Ladapo has that pace and is good one-v-one." This obviously shows McKenna was aware of the threat the striker posed at League One level.

Just after the halfway stage of his first season at Portman Road, Ladapo told the club's official website, "I've enjoyed it and I've loved it."

When asked if he had improved as a player whilst working with McKenna, Freddie added, "Yeah, definitely. I came here to improve and I knew that the manager was someone who would help me do that. Since I’ve been here, there have been little things that I’ve seen huge improvements in.

"I know that I can still keep going and keep improving as well as everyone. The team, the players and the coaches are still in a learning process of life so there’s still a long way to go," he concluded.

So, it's perhaps not a surprise to learn that his first season at the club was his best-ever in terms of being the most productive. Over the course of the 22/23 campaign, Ladapo scored 21 goals in all competitions, with 17 of those coming in the league.

He only started 23 of the 46 league matches he played in though, so he was very much, at times, a successful impact player - which can't be said about his stints at Charlton and Huddersfield.

When Ladapo moved to Charlton on loan in January 2024, McKenna made it clear that he did so with Town’s best wishes - as the striker had become a bit-part player in the Championship.

Ladapo himself described his mindset heading into the move away from Ipswich as “starving” for first‑team football - which perhaps showed the frustration of a player who thought he would’ve played more.

At The Valley, Ladapo’s loan stint produced only eight league starts and a solitary goal, a return that paled against his first output in Town colours. It didn't make up for lost time at all, and neither did his spell in West Yorkshire.

In truth, Ladapo seemed to be one of the back-up options for then-Huddersfield manager Michael Duff. Yes, fellow strikers Joe Taylor and Alfie May later joined separately on different future dates, but they were both wanted ahead of the Nigerian at the time, according to local Terriers' journalist Steven Chicken.

After scoring no league goals at all last season - in 21 appearances - Ladapo left Kirklees by mutual consent this past September, having not featured at all in the opening stretch of the season.

Ultimately, at Ipswich, he was the right man at the right time - and wasn't just put on the pitch to score, but to be a handful. By looking at the spells at Charlton and Huddersfield, you could argue it's more impressive that McKenna managed to get him to a career-best goalscoring tally in the first place.