Leicester City may be laughing to the bank at Ipswich Town transfer - It turned heads | OneFootball

Kasey McAteer's transfer to Ipswich Town is already looking somewhat questionable

Ipswich Town and Leicester City's respective predicaments have come under the microscope in the early weeks of the season, having been newly relegated from the Premier League.

Both sides had, unsurprisingly, been tipped for an immediate return to the elite of English football by many, even though there were several tweaks made to the playing squads and beyond at either Portman Road or the King Power Stadium.

Kieran McKenna remains one of the most highly-rated homegrown managers in the country, and there is a school of thought that the Tractor Boys now boast the best all-round squad in the Championship, even after losing stars such as Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson to Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.

Meanwhile, the Foxes' hands were somewhat tied in the summer window, with the newly-appointed Marti Cifuentes bidding farewell to several long-term stalwarts and experienced figures whilst welcoming four new recruits - all of whom didn't cost a transfer fee due to the uncertainty surrounding a potential points deduction and further sanctions following alleged breaches of PSR regulations.

Regardless, it is the East Midlands side who have started the faster in terms of their position in the league as we head into October, although Town have certainly picked up momentum with two victories and a draw against Sheffield United, Portsmouth and Bristol City either side of their abandoned away trip to Blackburn Rovers.

It is also Leicester who are looking like the early winners of a significant transfer agreement between the two clubs as well, and that feeling could certainly continue, much to the frustration of those at Portman Road.

Kasey McAteer was inconsistent for Leicester City before Ipswich Town transfer

After making a solitary appearance for Leicester back in the 2021/22 season, Kasey McAteer major breakthrough into the first-team fold at the King Power came under Enzo Maresca two seasons ago.

To his credit, McAteer was initially one of the Foxes' star men as they flew out of the traps, with his decisive double against Rotherham United backed up by strikes against Southampton and Norwich City - all within the first month-and-a-half of the campaign.

However, since suffering his first minor injury setback in the Autumn of 2023, the Northampton-born man is yet to reach the same heights, and that continued throughout the remainder of Maresca's title-winning campaign, although he would round it off with a goal in the trophy-clinching 3-0 win at Deepdale against Preston North End.

Despite the initial promising signs, McAteer was unable to fully showcase that he has the potential to become an established top-flight performer, only making nine starts and as many substitute appearances under Steve Cooper and Ruud Van Nistelrooy amid further fitness issues, with the last of his eight Leicester goals ironically coming against his current employers in May.

Therefore, it was a major surprise, not only to see Ipswich initially express their interest in the eight-cap international's services, but the fact they agreed to part with a reported £12m for a player who, whilst showing glimpses of talent, hasn't exactly justified such a price-tag.

Kasey McAteer is yet to endear himself to Ipswich Town fans - Leicester City may have won transfer agreement early on

Much like how Luton Town operated in 2023/24, Ipswich were able to recruit several of the Championship's previous stars such as Delap, Jack Clarke, Sammie Szmodics and Jacob Greaves, alongside the likes of the equally-impressive Leif Davis, who was already part of the furniture under McKenna.

This was showcased once again in January when Town landed long-term target Jaden Philogene, who has recently sparked into life in blue after an initially frustrating period following his move from Aston Villa.

He, much like the aforementioned Clarke, is capable of featuring on either flank to devastating effect, as proven by his hat-trick against the Blades last month, whilst the ex-Sunderland winger has scored three times already.

Therefore, McAteer was seemingly facing a losing battle in terms of earning a starting berth in East Anglia. Yet, whilst the 23-year-old has started three games on the right flank, he is yet to endear himself to the Suffolk masses.

As a result, it's hard to see McKenna offering the new recruit a regular spot unless his individual performance levels and output improve, especially after the club trumped the aforementioned fee paid for his services by breaking the all-time Championship record for an incoming, parting with £17.5m for Norwegian forward, Sindre Walle Egeli.

As such, those in the East Midlands will feel that their club have got the best out of the deal thus far, although there is still time for McAteer to prove the skeptics wrong.