My client should have been given a chance by Everton - Carlo Ancelotti said he was going nowhere

They captured the imagination and achieved back-to-back promotions that no-one expected.

It’s fair to say that Ipswich Town’s rise from League One to the Premier League caught the attention of the footballing world.

In truth, going up from the third tier was hardly a monumental achievement for a club the size of the Tractor Boys. After spending three seasons in the EFL doldrums, it was about time. But to go again and automatically be promoted to the top flight for the first time in 22 years was a fine feat. Especially considering the competition they faced.

Kieran McKenna’s side were in a red-hot Championship that featured Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton, who had all been relegated. Many believed the trio would make an immediate return to the Promised Land. Yet Ipswich had other ideas. In an enthralling battle that went down to the final day of the 2023-24 campaign, the Tractor Boys finished second in the table, just a point behind Leicester and ahead of Leeds and Southampton.

At the heart of their rise up the pyramid was an Everton academy product. Nathan Broadhead came through the Toffees’ youth ranks yet found first-team chances difficult. An excellent loan spell at Sunderland in the 2021-22 season yielded League One promotion, with the versatile forward netting 13 times. He was then sent to Championship side Wigan Athletic the following campaign before that stint was cut short as Everton decided to cash in.

In January 2023, Ipswich managed to persuade Broadhead to drop back down to the third tier, with Everton banking a reported fee of around £1.5 million. Just 18 months later, he’s now preparing for the Premier League. Broadhead scored eight times on the way to League One promotion and plundered 13 goals and five assists in the Championship.

And according to his agent, Neil Sang, there was a clear blueprint laid down by Tractor Boys boss McKenna and the Portman Road hierarchy that saw them achieve glory.

Speaking at the launch event at ChopValue UK, Sang told LiverpoolWorld: “We had a laugh. Some of the Ipswich guys posted on their socials 'back-to-back'. Broady posted 'back-to-back-to-back' because the season before, he had a promotion with Sunderland.

“In football, we all make decisions that work for us or they don't and you learn from them. Everton, I think, have lost a really good player there and a really good kid. But he's gone to Ipswich and found a home like you'll never believe. They get him, they love him, they play him, they work and develop him and now to see him in the Prem is madness - and also deserved.

“I know Ipswich really well and a load of people said to me that Ipswich were so lucky to get there, it was like Foinavon winning the Grand National - no it's not. If you're in a bit of the inner circle of the work, you wouldn't think it was a fluke.

“When Nathan signed, I remember asking Kieran McKenna: 'Why do you think you'll get out of League One?' He was already in the Championship. It was brave from the wider world looking in but when you listened to what Kieran McKenna said and what Ipswich's hierarchy said about their plan and vision, it was dead easy.

“On the outside, people might have thought: 'Why would you drop down?' Now we go, this is why. We talk extensively about pros and cons and ultimately it's about the manager. Kieran said to me: 'We'll get up from League One and go again, I watch Championship football every week, I know the best teams, the best players and how we can work against that and beat it'. He had this unbelievable plan and fair play, he's done it.”

Broadhead joined Everton aged 10 from Wrexham. He made his debut in a 3-0 victory over Apollon Limassol in the Europa League in December 2019 - assisting Nikola Vlašić’s goal. The Bangor-born attacker was then given a Premier League debut off the bench in a 0-0 draw at Brighton in April 2021 under Carlo Ancelotti. But subsequent senior opportunities were difficult to come by for Broadhead and he eventually left his boyhood club on a permanent basis.

Sang believes that Broadhead, 26, was a late bloomer and should have been given more chances to prove himself at Goodison Park - having been rated by now five-time Champions League-winning manager Ancelotti. But the Wales international will get the chance to see if he can make a mark on the Premier League with Ipswich when the 2024-25 season begins next month.

“I sort of look it at a bit of regret for him because I felt he should have had a chance at Everton,” added Sang. “I used to go and meet them and say: 'Come on, give him his chance' but it wasn't meant to be.

“What I always found amusing was that the best manager Everton have had in a long time, Carlo Ancelotti, he was the one who gave him his Premier League debut. Now it was only for a blink of an eye, a couple of minutes at Brighton but he got on the pitch, was around the squad and trained every day. Ancelotti said this kid is going nowhere but then Ancelotti left and the new team came in which was a big change and he's surplus.

“He was a late bloomer and I always said if you give him a chance and he's no good, you know and we know. But if you don't, you'll never know and we'll see down the line if he could have done it. It is what it is. I believe in fate and look where he is now. Had he stayed, he might not be in the Premier League now. He might have had a struggle at Everton and been lower than this. You make your choices, take your chance and boy has he made a good one.”