Ipswich Town made at least 3m profit on Celtic freebie: View | OneFootball

Daryl Murphy was one of arguably Ipswich Town’s best players in the 2010s whilst they were a Championship stalwart.

The Tractor Boys spent the majority of that period under the guidance of Mick McCarthy, who was in charge at Portman Road from November 2012 until April 2018.

Ipswich would finish in the top half of the table in four of his six seasons with the club. One of those was a sixth-placed finish in 2014/15, reaching the play-offs, where they were beaten by their biggest rivals Norwich City over two legs.

But McCarthy’s main man during that season was Murphy, who Ipswich made a good amount of profit on.

Before Murphy’s successful spell with the club in the 2010s, he actually spent the second half of the 09/10 season on loan at Ipswich from Sunderland.

It then led to his permanent move away from the Black Cats to Scottish giants Celtic. His time at Celtic Park did not start as well as it was hoped to, with him then returning to Ipswich on loan after just a season north of the border.

Murphy would spend the 11/12 and 12/13 seasons on loan at Ipswich, but was not the most prolific, scoring 11 goals across those two seasons.

But that did not stop Ipswich from making his move permanent, signing him on a free transfer following the conclusion of his contract at Celtic in the summer of 2013.

After moving to East Anglia on a permanent basis, Murphy found his shooting boots.

The 2013/14 season would end with him finding the net 13 times in 45 games, as he formed a great partnership with David McGoldrick, with 29 goals scored between them.

But it was the 2014/15 season, the play-off campaign, where Murphy would have his best season of his career - the Irishman scored 27 goals, assisting six more.

December would be his best month with six of those goals coming in that time, winning him the Championship Player of the Month.

His two goals in a 2-1 win away Fulham were not only decisive in the outcome of the game but also meant he became the first Ipswich player to score 20 league goals in a season since Darren Bent in 2005.

The season would ultimately end in play-off failure, but he would earn himself a place in the PFA Championship Team of the Year. Murphy also committed his future to the club by extending his contract by a further two years.

The 2015/16 season was not as prolific for Murphy, scoring just ten goals in 35 league games as they narrowly missed out on back-to-back top-six finishes, finishing seventh, five points off.

Murphy would then leave but made the club that helped elevate his career £3 million as he was sold to recently relegated Newcastle United.

That represented a nice profit on a player signed for a free transfer but it got even better as they received another £1 million when Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Getting £4 million in profit for Murphy, who was then 33 years old, was a great bit of business by the club.