Better than Godfrey: Ipswich loan star who left in 2018 is now like Saliba

Ipswich Town might still be licking their wounds from their Premier League defeat to Southampton last weekend, but there is still every chance they can beat the drop this season.

Kieran McKenna’s side might be down in the relegation zone, but with 14 games left to play, they are only three points from safety, and as their stomping win over Coventry City yesterday afternoon showed, they have the talent to turn things around.

However, they will need to start converting decent performances into decent results in the league and get more from their January signings, like Jaden Philogene and Ben Godfrey.

The former Everton star is a talented defender, but at the moment, is being outperformed by one of the club’s former loanees, who played under former manager Mick McCarthy and is currently winning comparisons to the incredible William Saliba.

Ipswich’s former loan stars

Before we get to the player in question, let’s look at some former stars who have spent time on loan with Ipswich, starting with a centre-forward who flopped at Portman Road but is now one of the best in the Premier League: Chris Wood.

The New Zealand international joined the Tractor Boys on a short-term loan in February 2015 but struggled to make an impact and left without a goal or assist to his name in eight appearances.

Since then, the 33-year-old has played for several teams across the country but is currently tearing things up for Nuno Espírito Santo’s high-flying Nottingham Forest.

The Kiwi superstar has already racked up a sensational haul of 17 goals and two assists in 24 league games, which is only five fewer goals than Ipswich have managed as a collective.

A loanee who enjoyed a more fruitful spell in East Anglia and is currently still with the club is Omari Hutchinson.

The former Chelsea ace joined the club in the summer of 2023 and, over the following campaign, racked up a healthy tally of 11 goals and six assists in 50 appearances, which was enough to secure a permanent £20m move to the club.

He’s been less effective in front of goal this season, but as his wonder striker against Manchester United proved, the talent is undeniably there.

With all that said, the former loanee we are here to talk about is a defender who’s winning significant comparisons and outperforming Godfrey this season.

The former Ipswich loanee outperforming Godfrey

McCarthy was the manager of Ipswich Town for just over five years and, as such, was responsible for signing his fair share of players on loan.

The likes of David McGoldrick, Tyrone Mings and even former Arsenal prospect Ainsley Maitland-Niles all joined the Tractor Boys on temporary deals under the Irishman, but the defender we are talking about is former Tottenham Hotspur gem Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The Lilywhites’ academy product joined the Suffolk side in January 2018, and while it was just a short-term loan, he made 17 appearances for the club, all of which were starts.

Following the completion of his loan, the American international would go out on several more short-term deals before securing a permanent move to Celtic in the summer of 2022, where he remains today and is undoubtedly one of the team’s most important players.

This season has seen the “brilliant” defender, as dubbed by ex-Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday, make 19 appearances in the league and, most impressively, five in the Champions League, in which he has an excellent points per game average of 2.20.

In contrast, Godfrey has played just 230 minutes of football for Atalanta and Ipswich and made just a single appearance in the Premier League, which was in the 6-0 defeat to Manchester City, so it would be fair to say that the former loanee is having the better campaign at present.

If that wasn’t enough, FBref, which compares players in similar positions across the Champions League, has concluded that the exceptionally gifted Saliba is the eighth most similar centre-back to the American this season.

We can better understand how this conclusion was reached by examining the underlying numbers in which they ranked closely, such as passing accuracy, expected assists, shots, tackles and tackles won, shots blocked and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, Ipswich probably made the right decision to sign Godfrey last month, as he has performed well in the Premier League before, but right now, they could really do with someone like Carter-Vickers again.

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