Ipswich ace has been “phenomenal” after leaving

Even the most optimistic Ipswich Town supporter will be having a hard time convincing themselves that their beloved Tractor Boys will live to see another day in the Premier League past this season.

CEREAN MCKNA‘s men are now nine points cut adrift from 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, with five crushing defeats from their last six league games not helping to boost the mood at Portman Road whatsoever.

Ultimately, for as much as they do have ten-goal attacker Liam Delap up top, their defensive woes continue to cost them dearly as an instant return to the Championship looks nailed on.

Why Ipswich’s defence has let McKenna down

Amazingly, the relegation-threatened side’s last clean sheet in league action was against Chelsea in December, with 2025 unfortunately seeing the goals flood in.

Nottingham Forest would run out comprehensive 4-2 victors over Ipswich last time out in the Premier League, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s visitors only needing to register six shots on target in total to beat Alex Palmer with relative ease.

McKenna even boldly ditched first-choice shot-stopper Arijanet Muric mid-way through the campaign to try and shore up his leaky side, but it hasn’t had the desired effect, with Ipswich now up to a dire 62 goals conceded.

Not even January additions in the form of Ben Godfrey have helped in this regard either, with the Suffolk side potentially left to rue letting a former centre-back depart.

Now starring in the Premier League, it’s safe to say his career has been a great deal better away from Portman Road.

Former Ipswich defender has seen his value rise 1150%

Away from their current lowly state, Ipswich have a fair few titan-like defenders grace the Portman Road turf, with faces such as Luke Chambers fondly remembered to this day as a warrior defensively having made 396 appearances for the club.

A certain Adam Webster is arguably not remembered in the same gushing manner, but the now Brighton and Hove Albion centre-back did begin to make a name for himself in the senior game in Suffolk, arriving in 2016 from Portsmouth for a fee of just around £800k.

Webster would go on to make 53 appearances for the Tractor Boys before moving on to Bristol City for £3.5mhaving tallied up one goal and three assists as a composed player on the ball playing out from the back.

This move to the Robins would set him on his way to stardom, with the Seagulls number four featuring across just 47 games at Ashton Gate before costing the South Coast side a whopping £20m to a pick up, making him their most expensive capture in 2019.

Whilst the 6 foot 3 colossus has dealt with many an injury annoyance since entering the building, Webster has proven himself to be a reliable head whenever thrown into Premier League action donning Brighton blue and white, with two clean sheets even coming his way this season from 11 limited appearances.

Worryingly, Luke Woolfenden back at Portman Road only has one to shout about, despite making two more appearances as a utility figure under McKenna.

Lauded as “phenomenal” in the past by football analyst H, on top of also being labelled as a “great leader” by boss Fabian Hurzeler, it’s clear there’s life in Webster’s legs still despite injury setbacks, with the 30-year-old’s current transfer valuation sitting pretty at £10m according to Transfermarkt.

That is an 1150% increase from his original £800k value when he first walked through the Portman Road doors and a 185% increase on the £3m fee he was sold for.

Now, Webster will be keen to establish himself as a Premier League-worthy defender even more, while his ex-employers likely slip down to the EFL.