Kieran McKenna has finally ignited £20m Ipswich Town spark - Hull City won't be surprised | OneFootball

Jaden Philogene got back to his very best in Friday's 5-0 victory for Ipswich against Sheffield United

After a slow start to the season following relegation from the Premier League, Ipswich Town finally got their campaign off and running in Friday night's 5-0 demolition of Sheffield United at Portman Road.

The Tractor Boys have been tipped by many to mount an immediate promotion bid back to the top-flight - such is the strength in-depth at Kieran McKenna's disposal - and they showcased exactly why, albeit against a wounded Blades side, with Ruben Selles promptly receiving his P45 after six disastrous encounters in charge.

By Championship standards, McKenna has an abundance of high-quality attacking talents to call upon, which is the main reason behind such aforementioned promotion calls.

The likes of Chuba Akpom, Sammie Szmodics and Jack Clarke have been among those to have shone in the second-tier in recent times, with the former two of the trio winning the division's Golden Boot in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons respectively, whilst also having the likes of George Hirst and the division's all-time record incoming, Sindre Walle Egeli among their ranks.

However, those in attendance and watching from a distance on Friday night were left in awe over the performance of Jaden Philogene, although those of a Hull City persuasion weren't particularly surprised by his stellar showing against the league's bottom side.

Kieran McKenna has ignited Jaden Philogene spark at Ipswich Town after £20m Aston Villa transfer

Philogene's career path to-date has certainly been intriguing, having come through the ranks at Aston Villa before enduring mixed loan spells with Stoke City and Cardiff City in the second-tier.

After an encouraging campaign in South Wales, the winger set the Championship alight after a £5m switch to Hull under Liam Rosenior two summers ago, scoring 12 times and registering a further eight assists in just 32 league appearances — including a Puskas Award-nominated strike against Rotherham United.

Pulling up such numbers amid a two-month injury layoff meant interest was inevitable once the Tigers failed to match their ambitious transfer activity with a Premier League return, which led to Villa sealing a return for just £13m due to a matching-rights and sell-on clause inserted in his exit to the MKM Stadium.

After impressing against Bayern Munich and Manchester United last October, Villa boss Unai Emery made it clear that the London-born man didn't continue his expected upward trajectory, which led to the club sanctioning a second permanent departure to Ipswich for £20m in January.

Once again, the winger failed to showcase his top-flight talent as Town were relegated, barring a brace in a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford in February, and after a frustratingly slow start to this season, McKenna may have seen his spark ignited with Friday's hat-trick against the Blades, as he ran former Ipswich teammate, Ben Godfrey, ragged.

As per Fotmob, Philogene received a 9.7 match rating, largely down to his trio of stunning strikes on either foot, as well as two further chances created, an 84 percent pass completion ratio and some further strong defensive contributions.

Jaden Philogene's Ipswich Town exploits vs Sheffield United won't surprise those at Hull City

As previously mentioned, the winger had been tipped to go on to bigger and better things after flourishing at the MKM Stadium under Liam Rosenior, where he struck constant fear into opposition full-backs, with all three of his goals and the overall performance reminiscent of his exploits for the Tigers.

The aforementioned result has seen Ipswich shoot up to 14th in the table after just five games, and McKenna will hope that his squad and, in particular, Philogene, can build some strong momentum as they look to eventually assert themselves as promotion contenders.

Such a starring role helps justify why Town parted with such a hefty eight-figure fee in the winter, but this cannot be the 'be all and end all' for the winger, as it must be continuously backed up — a rule which will also apply to his fellow attacking counterparts at Portman Road.

It was also quite the weekend for those of a Hull persuasion in terms of players from their near-miss on the play-offs getting on the scoresheet, with Philogene's former teammate, Fabio Carvalho, scoring a late equaliser for Brentford against Chelsea, just hours after John Egan had done the same for the Tigers in a 2-2 draw at Swansea City.

Those in Suffolk will be hoping that Philogene will be increasingly hard to stop in the coming weeks after regaining his 'mojo' against Sheffield United, although Hull supporters will hope such strong goalscoring and creative form dies down before their reunion on November 25th.