Ipswich Town must still be flabbergasted at Sheffield United development involving David McGoldrick | OneFootball

David McGoldrick joined Sheffield United on a free transfer in 2018 after leaving Ipswich Town.

David McGoldrick left Ipswich Town on a free transfer in the summer of 2018 after failing to hit double digits in goals in any of his final four seasons in Suffolk, subsequently joining Sheffield United, where he found much greater success under Chris Wilder.

Having played across the English Football League for the likes of Notts County, Southampton, Bournemouth, Port Vale, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, and Coventry City, Irish forward McGoldrick eventually found himself playing Championship football for Ipswich in 2012.

The striker had initially joined the Tractor Boys on a loan deal from Nottingham Forest in January 2012, after having scored 16 goals in 22 games in League One for Coventry in the first half of that season, and would join the club permanently at the end of the season.

An excellent full debut season at Portman Road, where he would score 14 goals and grab four assists in 31 Championship matches, saw McGoldrick linked with clubs in the Premier League, with Leicester City having launched a £5 million bid for him, which was rejected.

He'd remain at the club for the next four seasons thereafter, but failed to replicate the form of 2013/14, with seven goals being his best return in a single season after that.

McGoldrick would leave the club at the end of the season, but what would happen next would make Ipswich want to pull their hair out.

David McGoldrick left Ipswich Town on a free transfer to join Sheffield United

Following his departure from Portman Road after five-and-a-half years with the club, McGoldrick, now 30 years old, landed straight back in the Championship, signing a one-year deal with Sheffield United, with a one-year extension option.

Not even the most deluded of Blades fans could have predicted what followed after the Irishman's arrival.

He'd be thrust straight into the starting lineup in Yorkshire and instantly became a key member of the Sheffield United squad, which achieved promotion to the Premier League at the end of the season, with McGoldrick scoring 15 times and grabbing four assists in 45 Championship matches.

McGoldrick remained an important player for Wilder in the top flight, and playing in the Premier League for the first time at 31 years old, he scored just twice and notched two assists as the Blades achieved a top-half finish in their maiden season back in the top flight.

Another stellar campaign, where he scored eight times and grabbed an assist in 35 Premier League matches as Sheffield United were relegated, followed in what would be his final full campaign with the club.

He'd remain at the club another year thereafter, but injury problems kept the Irishman out of action for the majority of the campaign, before leaving for Derby County in 2022, with Ipswich left stunned at their former player's rise.

David McGoldrick must have left Ipswich Town bewildered with his later success

McGoldrick spent longer with Ipswich than he has with any other club throughout his entire career.

The current Barnsley man failed to light up Portman Road in the same way he did in his first season at the club, and little was expected of him when he was allowed to leave for free as a 30-year-old in 2018.

If anything, most Ipswich fans would have expected to see him drop the divisions in the coming years instead of rising through them, and none could have possibly foreseen him becoming a Premier League player as they lingered in League One.

What was Ipswich's loss was Sheffield United's gain, as the Tractor Boys will always be left flabbergasted at McGoldrick's career after them.