Town boss Mick McCarthy is sure former Blues striker Kieffer Moore will visit Portman Road tomorrow with Barnsley with something to prove.
Moore, 25, was sold to the Tykes in January for a fee of £750,000 having joined the Blues a year earlier for just £20,000 from then-National League Forest Green Rovers.
After making only 11 sub appearances for the Blues during the second half of last season without scoring, Moore was loaned to Rotherham in the summer.
While with the League One Millers, the Torquay-born frontman smashed 13 goals and attracted interest from Barnsley and a host of other clubs during January.
Since moving to Oakwell Moore has netted three goals in 11 starts and three sub appearances.
"Yes, sod’s law, I suppose, Murphy’s law, whatever it is,” McCarthy reflected. "He’ll come up here and he’ll want to prove that he should have stayed here, I guess.
"But he’s done well at Rotherham, he’s been doing OK, Barnsley have had some good results and the club did all right out of that deal as well.”
Was it simply a case that it was too good a deal to turn down or did McCarthy not feel Moore was capable of making it at Championship level?
"In the end it wouldn’t matter what my thoughts were on it,” he said. "I think he’s always going to be an asset and a handful in the league. Whether he’s going to be a top performer in the Championship on a regular basis that remains to be seen because that’s not been done yet by him. But it was blooming good deal.”
Asked whether a manager feels a sense of professional pride having pulled off a deal where the fee received is so much greater than the sum previously paid, he added: "Didn’t benefit me at all though, did it? I think it’s good business, it’s good management, of course.”