Scottish Premiership giants Rangers let Martyn Waghorn leave Ibrox for a cut-price fee but now he’s ripping up the Championship with Ipswich Town.
After six months at Ipswich Town, Martyn Waghorn can consider his move to Portman Road to be a roaring success.
In 19 Championship starts, the striker has scored 10 times for his new club. And an Ipswich side who were tipped to struggle at the start of the campaign head into the final game of the New Year tenth in the table, just five points adrift of the play-off places.
So it’s fair to say Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy has been more than impressed by the impact made by Waghorn.
“I thought he was a good player, but he’s even better than I thought,” McCarthy told the East Anglian Daily Times after the former Sunderland youngster inspired a 4-2 win against Nottingham Forest at the start of December.
Not bad for a player who cost just £250,000, the report adds. But while Ipswich can toast the success of their inspired bargain deal, you wonder just what Rangers were thinking.
Waghorn was never a fans favourite at Ibrox despite his enviable goals-per-game ratio and few tears were shed when he departed in the summer. But if Rangers are due a face palm for allowing Barrie McKay to join Nottingham Forest for £500,000 (The Scotsman), the decision to sell Waghorn for half that price should also be subject to scrutiny.
Especially with the legion of foreign imports, a la Eduardo Herrera, Daniel Candeias and Dalcio, failing to prove that they are anything like an upgrade.
He has proved to be better than McCarthy ever expected. Perhaps it’s only now that Rangers too are realising just what an asset Waghorn can be.
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