Ipswich Town were big winners of Rotherham United's £500k Plymouth Argyle record-breaker | OneFootball

Freddie Ladapo’s time at Ipswich Town proved a smart piece of business after Rotherham United gamble

When Freddie Ladapo left Rotherham United in the summer of 2022, it was with a sense of unfinished business.

Three years earlier, he had joined the club for a record £500,000 fee from Plymouth Argyle - a significant outlay for the Millers, and a sign of their intent to establish themselves as a Championship side.

By the time he departed, that ambition had been realised, but the partnership had run its course.

Ladapo’s time at Rotherham was productive, but uneven. His first season brought 14 league goals and promotion from League One, but subsequent campaigns yielded nine and then eleven.

By January 2022, he had handed in a transfer request, and with only six months left on his contract, the club opted not to extend. When Ipswich Town came forward that summer, offering a fresh start under Kieran McKenna, the move suited all parties.

It was a shrewd, low-risk signing for the upwardly mobile Tractor Boys. For Ladapo, it was a chance to reassert his value in the division where he had always looked most comfortable.

How Ipswich Town turned a free transfer into key promotion value

Ladapo’s early months at Portman Road were quiet. He started regularly but took time to find his rhythm, scoring his first Ipswich goal in an EFL Trophy tie at the end of August.

What followed was a steady, rather than spectacular, season — the kind of dependable contribution that often underpins promotion campaigns but doesn’t always draw headlines.

By Christmas, he had reached double figures in all competitions. The arrival of George Hirst on loan from Leicester in January limited his starting opportunities, yet Ladapo adapted well to a different role.

He became an influential presence from the bench, scoring eight times as a substitute — more than any other player in League One that year.

By the end of the season, Ipswich had returned to the Championship after a four-year absence, finishing second with 101 points and over a hundred league goals.

Ladapo contributed 17 of them, finishing just behind Conor Chaplin in the club’s scoring charts. For a player signed on a free transfer, his impact was considerable.

In South Yorkshire, meanwhile, that £500,000 record outlay had long since faded into the background.

Ladapo’s departure brought no financial return, but his earlier contribution had helped the Millers to promotions. Both clubs, in different ways, could claim to have benefited — though Ipswich, by virtue of timing and circumstance, made the stronger gain.

Freddie Ladapo’s post-Ipswich career: Charlton Athletic loan, Huddersfield Town move and contract termination

The Championship season that followed brought a different challenge. Ipswich strengthened their attacking options, and Ladapo’s role diminished.

By January 2024, he had started only twice in the league, prompting a loan move to Charlton Athletic. It was a familiar story: a player proven at one level, struggling to translate that reliability into the next.

At Charlton, the numbers were very modest - one goal in 12 appearances - but his reputation in League One remained sound. By the summer, a parting of ways at Ipswich felt inevitable.

In September 2024, Ladapo joined Huddersfield Town on a free transfer after agreeing to terminate his contract at Portman Road a year early.

But his time in West Yorkshire proved short-lived too. Despite signing a two-year deal, he made 25 appearances and scored once before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in late 2025, leaving him a free agent once again.

Ladapo’s career, viewed in full, tells a story common in the modern Football League: a capable, experienced striker moving between clubs with differing expectations, his worth fluctuating less through talent than through timing.

Rotherham paid a record fee to secure him at his peak; Ipswich capitalised when that value had all but expired.

In isolation, neither move defines success or failure. But taken together, they underline how fragile the concept of value can be in the sport. A player who cost half a million pounds in 2019 left for nothing in 2022, then played a decisive role in another club’s promotion the following year.

It was a reminder that investment does not always yield control in South Yorkshire - whereas, for Ipswich, it was an example of the rewards that come with patience and sound recruitment.