Martyn Waghorn has scored over 100 goals in his career and has been a fixture on the scoresheet in the EFL for the past decade and a half, with more than ten different clubs taking use of his skills.

After beginning his football career with Sunderland, the forward has had a nomadic career with a double-digit number of previous clubs, including Derby County and Northampton Town.

That Derby appearance was his second with the Rams, having come to Pride Park from Ipswich Town in the summer of 2018 for a fee thought to be in the region of £5 million.

That was at a time when the striker was at the height of his powers, having established himself as a top-tier striker with a goal-laden period at Rangers in Scotland, allowing Ipswich to benefit from his prolific nature in front of goal both on the pitch and in the pocket.

Ipswich Town got a deal when they signed Martyn Waghorn from Rangers.

Waghorn had loan periods at Charlton Athletic and Leicester City while still a teenager, and he was demonstrating his innate ability to score goals.

12 goals in 43 league matches lured the Foxes into a £3 million transfer for the striker in 2010, but the opportunities quickly dried up once he made the move permanent, ending in a loan move to Millwall before being sent out to Wigan Athletic.

After such a promising start to his career, the forward was struggling for form at the DW Stadium, so it must have been a huge relief when Rangers came knocking in the summer of 2015, with the Glasgow club commanding his services as they climbed back up the Scottish football pyramid.

The Ibrox club had been relegated to the fourth level for financial problems and were back in the second tier when they called Waghorn, allowing the frontman to have the most productive season of his career to date once he moved north of the border.

A 28-goal season saw his stock skyrocket over the course of the next season, and he added another 16 when his team returned to the top division, leaving no doubt about his skills as a clinical marksman.

Ipswich were eager to have a piece of the action, and paid a reputed £1 million to get him in the summer of 2017, and he instantly rewarded that investment with a fantastic season in front of goal.

Waghorn scored 16 goals in his debut season, making him the club’s leading scorer in the league, as Mick McCarthy’s team finished comfortably in mid-table.

Martyn Waghorn’s Ipswich Town Statistics

Appearances

46

Starts

39

Goals

16 assists and 11 goals for a total of 90 points.

0.42

Source: FBref.

Four goals in his first three league games would have immediately endeared him to the Portman Road supporters, with a brace against Millwall giving his team a thrilling 4-3 victory, as well as the winner away to Barnsley on his EFL debut for the club.

Waghorn was frequently the man to get the Suffolk side out of trouble with key scores; whether he was sprinting away from the backline or pouncing on a loose ball in the area, he was always ready to score.

It’s difficult to recall a time when Ipswich Town were constant Championship also-rans, with a string of mid-table finishes keeping them in the second division for 17 straight seasons before dropping to League One in 2019.

The Tractor Boys of old were a long cry from now, with only a single play-off campaign to show for 14 years of work in the second division, leaving top players like Waghorn open to being picked off by teams with loftier objectives at will.

Ipswich Town made a large profit with Martyn Waghorn.

Derby County was one of those teams half a decade ago, with the Rams wanting to improve on the previous season’s dismal play-off campaign and earmarking Town’s marksman as the man to finish the job the following season.

With a £5 million price on the table, it looked like a great profit for just one year’s investment in the goal-scorer, leaving the Tractor Boys keen to cash in and thank Waghorn for the memories.

They scored a lot of goals and made a lot of money, so Ipswich will see this as a fantastic commercial opportunity.

Derby County lost another play-off campaign, despite Waghorn scoring 13 goals on his way to the end-of-season battle at Wembley Stadium.

The front-man then went on to play for Coventry City and Huddersfield Town before returning to County at the age of 33 last summer, having only come on trial because he appeared in Craig Forsyth’s testimonial, impressing Paul Warne in the dugout.

Waghorn was never as prolific as he was after leaving Portman Road, but his one and only season in Suffolk provided the Tractor Boys with a significant profit for what they received.