Conor Chaplin’s return to his boyhood club Portsmouth on a season-long loan has been confirmed.

TWTD revealed this afternoon that Chaplin was set to make a shock move back to his local club, six and a half years after departing Fratton Park and four years after joining the Blues from Barnsley.

There is a recall clause in the deal which could see the attacker come back to Portman Road in January. His Town contract is up next summer but with the club having an option for a further season.

It’s understood Chaplin was keen to play week in, week out, something which wasn’t guaranteed at Town in the campaign ahead, and when the possibility of a move back to Pompey emerged, the Worthing-born attacker was interested in pursuing it and the club helped facilitate the loan switch. Had it been any other side, the Blues may not have given the greenlight to the move.

“I’m sure that Conor doesn’t really need any introduction to the Pompey faithful,” Pompey boss John Mousinho told his club’s official website.

“This is a deal that I know everyone’s going to be excited about and we’re grateful to Ipswich for loaning him to us.

“We’re delighted to bring in someone who’s a proven Championship goalscorer and was part of a side that recently enjoyed an outstanding season at this level.

“With the fact that he’s at the prime of his career – along with the history he has here – it’s a brilliant signing for us.”

Chaplin, who joins former Blues midfielder Andre Dozzell at Pompey, was a key player in Kieran McKenna’s back-to-back promotion-winning side having signed for his old Pompey boss Paul Cook in the summer of 2021, making a total of 127 starts and 47 sub appearances, scoring 55 times.

Chaplin, who came through the ranks at Portsmouth before moving on to Coventry in January 2019, was joint-top scorer in League One in the 2022/23 campaign, netting 23 times, plus three more in cup competitions.

That season he was named Town’s Player of the Year and the EFL’s League Player of the Year and was included in the EFL and PFA’s League One Teams of the Season.

He also made a strong contribution to the Championship promotion season which followed, scoring 13 times.

The 28-year-old’s involvement was more limited in the Premier League in 2024/25, although he still made 12 starts and 10 sub appearances, scoring once.

Chaplin is one of four senior deadline-day departures, along with Chieo Ogbene, whose loan move to Sheffield United was confirmed earlier, Luke Woolfenden, who is moving to Coventry, and Ali Al-Hamadi, who is departing for Luton, initially on loan.

With Conor Townsend not being registered due to his ACL injury, the Blues are now down to the required 25 players aged above 21 for their Championship squad.

Chaplin’s exit is Town’s last business of what’s been a seismic transfer window for the Blues which has seen the departure of many of the stars of the back-to-back promotion seasons.

In addition to deadline-day departures, skipper Sam Morsy, Massimo Luongo, Nathan Broadhead, Axel Tuanzebe, Marcus Harness, Cameron Burgess and Omari Hutchinson have moved on from the double promotion squad, along with Liam Delap and Aro Muric from last summer's signings, a total of 14 permanent exits, plus four loanees going back to their clubs, although with one of those, Jens Cajuste, returning for a second season.

The Blues signed 11 senior players on a permanent or loan basis - development squad member Luca Fletcher the only recruit on deadline day, from Manchester City initially on loan - with manager Kieran McKenna having admitted that he now has the job of rebuilding his team during a season when much is expected of his side.

In addition to Cajuste, Ivan Azon, Chuba Akpom and Cedric Kipre joined on loan, while David Button, Azor Matusiwa, Sindre Walle Egeli, Ashley Young, Darnell Furlong, Kasey McAteer and Marcelino Nunez all signed on a permanent basis.

Photo: Matchday Images

Woodbridgian added 22:05 - Sep 1 There is always a moment when sentiment between fans and club change for the better or worse. This could well be one of those moments and if it is there’s no doubt which way it will go! Downwards! That band of brothers team spirit has now been completely etched from this squad. McKenna now has a massive job on his hands. I hope he and the club have got this right personally I think they’ve lost their minds but time will tell. Echos of 2002 for me when Burley who achieved everything KMc has was gone by mid October!

1

NorthLondonBlue2 added 22:06 - Sep 1 Feels a bit of a shoddy way to treat a player of his pedigree and loyalty, not to mention skill. We’re looking badly misaligned in the championship and Chaplin was probably one of our best chances to address that. I hope I’m wrong
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darkhorse28 added 22:08 - Sep 1 We’ve lost a lot of our leadership group that are in their prime.., Morsy and Massimo sadly had to be replaced at their age, but Chaplin and Burgess and Wolf are in their prime. McKenna inherited a great group of ‘winners’ all of which have gone…, Chaplins goals record in the EFL is second to none…, but his ability to run himself into the ground for three points, is a quality that’s hard to replicate. We’ve lost leaders. McKennas obsession with thinking solutions are just a training session away…, you can’t coach leadership .., you have it or you don’t. The same with passion and desire. That the one player in the current group that has it, is 40 years of age, suggests this is going to be a massive (self induced) challenge for McKenna. If I’m honest.., I think he ‘swam the channel’ with the group he took over.., and he’s clearly a great coach, but he doesn’t understand elite performance teams.., and what makes them tick. The dynamic isn’t about quality and coaching. This has all the hallmarks of a much better quality squad…, that won’t achieve half what the legacy group did. The band of brothers were TWICE the sum of their parts. This group so far, and some have been here a year or more, are less than that sum. Fingers crossed new leaders step up! Good luck Chappers .., you gave everything…, then you gave some more!! The winner against Southampton.., even sitting on the bench.., you sprinted the length of the pitch to celebrate!!!! It meant everything, you ran through walls and your finishing is still the best at the club.., good luck and thank you .., we couldn’t have done it without you.

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grow_our_own added 22:10 - Sep 1 Burgess, Woolfenden, Broadhead, Hladky, and now Chaplin. All unnecessarily dropped or sold when the expensive replacement was usually much worse. No replacement has been better. Jury's sill out about this window, but it's abundantly clear the 130m we spent over and above the Hutch & Delap fees was completely wasted and made the team worse. We went from looking like world-beaters last spring, into also-rans in the Championship this season. Incredible. Shocking from the ITFC leadership team. Hope lessons have been learned and babies are not ejected with bathwater in future.

3

Lightningboy added 22:16 - Sep 1 Sickening what's gone on today. Makes you wonder at times why we bother putting ourselves through it.
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blues1 added 22:16 - Sep 1 Mark. What are you on about? Of course there will hsve been a loan fee. No player goes on loan without a fee being paid. Does anyone actually read the story, before slagging the club off? Clearly states thst Chaplin wanted the move bcse he knows hes not gonna get regular football here. At least 3 players ahead of him after thd international break. And frankly, hes not really done much for some time now. And did nothing on saturday. Always thought there was a chance of him going in this window, tho surprised it was this latd on. Good thing is, we've now kept Humphries here, which I suspect wouldn't have happened had this move not come up. Of course its a bit sad to see the players from the previous promotion seasons leave, but you have to move on, and improve the squad. Which once everything settles down, which with thd window now,closed, constant to happen, we'll selected benefits of thd signings,we've made. Trouble is, already, as is always the case, some fans dont give new players a chance to settle in, and start slagging them off straight away,

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E_I_E_I_E_I_O added 22:17 - Sep 1 There next game is vs Southampton.
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Bergholtblue added 22:18 - Sep 1 This feels like Paul Cooks big clear out. He could not get the new team to gel and paid the price. I just hope the McKenna does or we may have another couple of seasons of turmoil.
1

Burley4ever added 22:19 - Sep 1 Does that mean he will play for Pompy when the teams meet or is there a clause that stops that from happening???
1

micky_1560 added 22:28 - Sep 1 I actually thought this would happen, not quite got back to his sharp self and we are attempting to move the squad to the next level. Note I say attempting! Aside from Cajuste, the signings haven't fired, remains to be seen if this is down to McKenna not getting the best out of them or the players need to do more. Let's hope the latest signings do fire and we all see the improvement we all long for.

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bluesissy added 22:29 - Sep 1 The lunatics are running the asylum....who let this happen
1

cartman1972 added 22:49 - Sep 1 If Wes Burns was fit he'd have gone as a well....lost all the mainstays which made us a cohesive, attacking team....I hope we start to gel very quickly after the international break ....both this and Wolfie burn a bit but I'm speaking purely with a sentimental heart .
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del45 added 22:54 - Sep 1 Blues 1 well said at last something sensible said on this site.
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Karlosfandangal added 22:55 - Sep 1 With Szmodics and Akpom playing the 10 role…..Chaplin would hardly play this season so make sense…… But not too me
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grow_our_own added 22:55 - Sep 1 "Woolfie at the back, Chaplin in attack" - so sad. What a team we had. I hope we keep singing this.
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ITFC_1994 added 23:00 - Sep 1 Such a strange move. A game changer and a leader. Love chappers to bits. As much as I love him, couldn't really care less what a good move this is for him.... its a terrible move for ITFC. Not a single player at the club as creative as him, or with such a good work ethic. As I said on the other post, how can you go from a starter on Saturday to out the club on Monday? I get we need to move on. However a championship 11 with Burgess, Tuenzebe, Mass, Morsy, Broady, Chappers, Harness, Wolfy and even AAH and Muric probably beats our current lot... certainly on current form... Just hope the lads that are still here can turn things around and put a run together, or things could get fairly toxic fairly quickly. Would appreciate some coms from KM and MA on the direction of the side. Egeli and Nunez must be some players to feel we don't need chappers anymore. How must Leif feel? Gutted.

1

WhoisJimmyJuan added 23:00 - Sep 1 I remember feeling a bit like this as a child when John Wark left to join Liverpool in 1984. Some on here say no room for sentimentality and some dismiss those upset as "moaners". I am gutted. So if that makes me a moaner then I shall wear that title as a badge of honour. As for sentimentality, I'd rather that than feel nothing over something like this.
2

Karlosfandangal added 23:03 - Sep 1 Let’s hope Town have a team of new hero’s
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BurleyJefferson added 23:25 - Sep 1 Time to reevaluate the quality of Paul Cooks signings perhaps.
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davidsc1971 added 23:44 - Sep 1 So when the B2B promotion winning side all got replaced when we moved up to the Premier League, it shouldn't really be a surprise that they all then wanted to move on this summer to play regular football. It's just painful to watch, this one being more painful than most. Good luck Chappers, thank you for everything you've done for us
1

austractor added 23:53 - Sep 1 Where the bell did this come from? Something doesn’t feel right when so many players are insisting on moves. Either we pay crap wages or it’s not as fun playing for town as it seems: Hope they recall him tomorrow
1

armchaircritic59 added 00:54 - Sep 2 darkhorse28, we've crossed swords once or twice in here, but that post above was pretty spot on, and yes we need the new leaders and all the new players to step up to the plate. Let's all just give them time to prove themselves ( or otherwise. ) If anyone should be interested I've done some quick sums that covers this transfer window, it's not exact but it should be fairly close, I welcome any correction necessary! Money in from actual sales = circa £75M. Money actually paid for transfers in ( including the add ons and JC's loan fee ) = circa £52M. That leaves a profit of circa £23M on the deals. Plus the Parachute payment of circa £49M untouched. However, all this only matters if this new team succeed, if it does it will prove to be a great window, if it doesn't then the above may well please those balancing books, but I doubt it will please fans. In the meantime, the team needs everyone's backing, what's happened today isn't the fault of the players here now. I'm personally not making any sort of first judgement till 10 league games have been played. That will still leave 36 games and 108 points to play for. No doubt we all have our individual thoughts on that. As my late Mother was often heard to say " It will all come out in the wash ". Indeed it will!

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Ipswich1977 added 00:58 - Sep 2 McKenna, you've ****** up here.
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ElvisMariner added 04:13 - Sep 2 Mistake letting Chappers go.
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