Patrick Bamford’s move to promotion-chasing EFL side falls through – two months after Sheffield United transfer

Patrick Bamford has seen a potential January move to Ipswich Town fall through, talkSPORT understands.

The one-cap England international only joined Sheffield United in November having been without a club since being released by Leeds last summer.

Bamford was offered a surprise lifeline by Chris Wilder at Bramall Lane

It was a shock move for a few reasons, one of which being the fact the striker has been videoed mocking the Blades and Wilder while at Leeds.

But his switch has proven to be a great decision so far.

Bamford has five goals in ten games for Sheffield United as they look to push on in the second half of the season after a shambolic start under Ruben Selles.

The forward has only lost two of the games he’s played in with seven wins in that time.

And his form hasn’t gone unnoticed leading to Ipswich to come calling, but the Tractor Boys have elected to move on to other targets.

Kieran McKenna‘s men are embroiled in a battle for automatic promotion and are looking for more goals after losing Liam Delap in the summer.

As it stands, Ipswich are third in the Championship – two points behind Middlesbrough.

Meanwhile, Sheffield United are well clear of danger – sitting eight points above the drop zone.

But if they are to make a promotion push, they will need to be basically perfect for the remainder of the campaign.

This is because Wilder’s side are nine points from the play-offs.

As it stands, they sit in 16th spot following back-to-back victories.

Getty

Getty

Back in form

Bamford’s final season as a Leeds player was nothing to write home about as he made just 17 appearances for Daniel Farke‘s men.

A mixture of injuries and other options were the reason for the lack of game time.

He was then informed in the summer that he wasn’t part of Farke’s plans and saw his contract ripped up at the end of August.

The former Chelsea man was then without a club for three months before an unlikely hero arrived.

Wilder has re-energised Bamford, with the striker already United’s second top scorer this term.

Discussing his form for United, Bamford said: “I had quite a lot of options in the summer, some just weren’t right for at the time of my career or where I wanted to take the next step.

“I knew Frank (Lampard) from Chelsea, so I went down to Coventry and trained hard every day with an excellent team.

“A deal was pretty much done there, then the owner decided he didn’t want to do it, obviously they are flying and I accepted that, Frank apologised and I moved on, grateful for the opportunity.

“It has made hitting the ground running here easier, I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Chris (Wilder), I didn’t need any convincing and it was signed and sealed the following day.”