Kieran McKenna provided many young players with their first Premier League performance opportunity. Even though the top-flight campaign ended in relegation and was essentially a sink or swim situation, in retrospect, it almost seems like a win-win situation.
McKenna’s club would either survive if these players flourished after stepping up, or Ipswich would be relegated and, absent a large player exodus, would immediately have one of the top teams in the upcoming Championship season.
The only high-profile departure from Portman Road this summer is Liam Delap. Although more players may follow him out the door prior to August 8th’s Championship opener against Birmingham City, Kieran McKenna should try his best to hold onto the services of Jack Clarke and Jaden Philogene, particularly this summer. The Tractor Boys may have the best wing combination in the division if he can.
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Jack Clarke and Jaden Philogene’s previous Championship seasons
In his brief career, Jack Clarke has already switched to a Premier League team twice as a result of his Championship accomplishments.
Tottenham Hotspur swooped in for a £10 million transfer after his breakthrough season at Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa, but he never really took off at Spurs and ended up slipping to Sunderland in League One.
Clarke easily contributed goals and assists at the Stadium of Light after the Black Cats were promoted back to the second division. In his two Championship seasons with Sunderland, he scored 24 goals and provided 16 assists, solidifying his position as one of the league’s most feared wide players.
Due to the goal’s participation, Ipswich was able to sign him in a deal that might have cost up to £20 million.
Although Jaden Philogene’s career in the second division isn’t as extensive as Clarke’s, after a successful season on loan at Cardiff City the previous year, he emerged as one of the division’s most dynamic and feared players during his 2023–24 campaign with Hull City.
In the 2023–24 season, he scored 12 goals, assisted on six, and finished in the top 3% of right-wingers in terms of successful dribbles. He was also shortlisted for the 2024 Puskas Award after a rabona effort from an almost impossible angle against Rotherham United.
.This led to Aston Villa re-signing the 23-year-old 12 months after selling him to Hull, although he only stayed at Villa Park for six months before being acquired by Ipswich for £20 million.
Clarke and Philogene couldn’t find that form in the Premier League – a drop to the Championship can revitalise their careers at Ipswich Town
Clarke and Philogene, who are only 23 and 24 years old, respectively, have the potential to be key members of a Premier League team in the future, but the 2024–2025 season didn’t go as planned.
Although Clarke never played in the Premier League at Tottenham, he started just 12 of his 32 games in his first attempt at the top division with Ipswich and failed to score.
With just two starts in the first half of the previous season’s Premier League campaign, Philogene was a bit-part player at Aston Villa. Although he played more minutes at Ipswich, Kieran McKenna’s team was on the verge of relegation, and the 23-year-old spent the season in the treatment room following an MCL injury sustained against Chelsea.
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