Town boss Mick McCarthy says former Blues striker Daryl Murphy deserves a warm welcome back to Portman Road with Newcastle United this afternoon. The 34-year-old Irishman joined the Magpies from the Blues in August for £3 million.
"Of course he does, Murph was brilliant for us and we have missed him, no doubt about that,” McCarthy said.
"We’ve missed his goals, missed his power, missed his pace, missed his ability up front to stick the ball for us.
"We’ve tried a number of things to replace him, it hasn’t worked. And he’s not played on a regular basis up there but when he came on in a game but he actually changed the game for them. He’s played more now and he’s a damned good Championship player.”
Town failed to find a replacement for Murphy in the final days of the August transfer window and again in January with a £2 million offer for Preston’s Jordan Hugill among their failed bids.
"In August it was very difficult to do that and in January it just didn’t work out, trying to sign players didn’t work out and that was unfortunate for us,” McCarthy added ruefully.
Does a replacement for Murphy remain a priority for the summer ahead? "The squad’s going to have to change, it’s not just a question of [replacing] Daryl Murphy.”
Across his four spells with the Blues Murphy made 207 starts and 18 sub appearances, scoring 67 goals, including 27 in the 2014/15 play-off season.
Since joining the Magpies the Republic of Ireland international has made seven starts and made eight appearances from the bench, netting five times.