Forget Ipswich Town’s Martyn Waghorn, Blades should rival Derby for Jack Marriott

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Sheffield United have been heavily linked with Ipswich Town striker Martyn Waghorn.

According to a recent report in the Mirror (live transfer blog, July 22 at 11:25am), Ipswich Town are valuing reported Sheffield United target Martyn Waghorn between £8m to £10 million.

The Sheffield Star have quoted Chris Wilder’s interest in the player, with the Blades boss stating: “Everyone knows we’re interested, it’s out there now, so there’s no point in not talking about it.”

But for the reported figure it seems that Wilder isn’t that keen, and who can blame him when there are better value-for-money options out there including Derby County target Jack Marriott.

While Waghorn has Championship experience and showed his qualities with Ipswich last term, netting 16 times and grabbing 11 assists, at 28 he only has a couple more years at the top unlike Marriott.

The Peterborough United ace netted a whopping 33 times in all competitions last season, and considering he is just 23 years of age and potentially cheaper than Waghorn, surely United would be better off changing targets.

It has been reported that Derby are leading the race to sign the League One sensation, with Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirming the Rams have made three bids already.

“Derby have made three bids for Jack and we’ve turned them all down. The bids involved slightly different offers and we’ve told Jack about them all,” MacAnthony said.

Derby have several forwards in Matej Vydra, Chris Martin, David Nugent and Cameron Jerome, therefore it’s unsure where Marriott would fit in at Pride Park or whether boss Frank Lampard must sell first.

Sheffield United don’t have anywhere near as many options, therefore Marriott would surely be guaranteed first-team football at Bramall Lane and that must be a greater incentive for the Yorkshire club to offer.

It makes little sense to spend heavily on Waghorn when financially the club would be better off going for Marriott. With United boasting an attacking style and having lots of creativity, the Posh ace would get plenty of chances in-front of goal and with his lethal scoring record he could be the ideal man to fire the club to a promotion charge.