Signing number three is in the building.
Ipswich Town have completed their capture of Everton’s Nathan Broadhead, in a seven-figure deal which sends out something of a statement as the Blues flex their muscles at the top of League One.
That’s because Broadhead is an accomplished performer at this level, netting 13 goals in only 22 appearances during an injury-hit season at Sunderland which still saw him play a central role as the Black Cats won promotion via the play-offs.
He then had a crack at the Championship, this time with Wigan, where he still managed to score five goals in 22 appearances, despite the heavy rotation of forward players as the Latics looked for a magic formula as they were sucked into a relegation battle.
Moving away from Goodison Park will no doubt have been an extremely tough decision for a player who joined the Everton academy at the age of 10. But, having watched the Blues’ comprehensive victory over Rotherham in the FA Cup and heard what Kieran McKenna and Mark Ashton had to say, the 24-year-old has decided Portman Road is the best place for him to take his career to the next level.
He joins at a time when Town are third in League One but top the division’s scoring charts, during a serious promotion charge after three failed attempts.
Broadhead arrives hot the heels of George Hirst’s move to Portman Road, with McKenna adding to an already power-packed forward line.
Where does he fit in?
Well, Broadhead is a forward.
McKenna likes versatile players and Broadhead is certainly that, given he has experience playing as a central striker and in any of the slightly deeper attacking positions.
He has played the majority of his senior football as a centre-forward, playing through the middle with good pace, an excellent touch and the technical ability you would expect from a player who has come through a top academy.
Broadhead was used centrally during much of his Wigan spell, with Will Keane playing off him, sitting a little deeper. He’s operated as the right-sider in a front three for the Latics as well this season.
At Sunderland, he often played in a front two but was the one to drop off of leading man Ross Stewart. That’s where he was used when he scored against the Blues at Portman Road in December of 2021, with McKenna watching from the stands before formally taking charge.
At Burton, his loan club in 2019/20, he was used as a left-sided attacker for much of his time with the Brewers, which is the same position he occupied while playing for Everton’s age group teams.
In short, Broadhead is versatile and can play anywhere in the final third. That’s a good skillset to have, arriving into this Ipswich squad.
It’s an area of the pitch where Town have plenty of bodies. But it’s an area of the pitch where they use them, too.
With five substitutions available to him, boss McKenna generally uses at least three, sometimes four, of his changes on the attacking areas of his team in any given game.
That means eight of Broadhead, Hirst, Freddie Ladapo, Kayden Jackson, Gassan Ahadme, Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin, Sone Aluko, Kyle Edwards and Marcus Harness can expect to be used in any one game. Plus there’s also a potential return for Tyreece John-Jules, too. That’s 11 players for four starting positions, eight slots if you include substitutions, before you factor in injuries.
It’s a squad game now. Ipswich’s is very strong.
Well-schooled
If you are talking about a player who has come through the Everton youth system then you will know a couple of things are probably true.
The first is that they are well-schooled, with Everton’s youth system having a reputation for developing good, mature football players who are good people, too.
Ipswich have recent experience of that, in the form of Matt Pennington, Luke Garbutt, Callum Connolly and Conor Grant.
And you will also expect they might not finally move away from Everton full-time until their mid-20s.
The players listed above tick that box, too.
Welshman Broadhead is 24. He had been at Everton since he was 10-years-old, brought up in the way of the Toffees. Prior to that he was associated with Bangor City and Wrexham, while also winning caps for his country up to Under 21 level. He was called into the senior squad during the summer.
He may only have played twice for the first-team at Everton, once in the Europa League in 2018 and once as a Premier League substitute in 2021, but he is highly regarded. They don’t keep you around if you aren’t.
Regularly top-scoring for his Everton youth teams, former Toffees Under 23s boss David Unsworth said of Broadhead in 2019: “He’s terrific, it’s up to him what the next step is… maybe a loan, maybe training with the first-team – but that’s up to the manager – but he has certainly given himself a platform.
“He’s a top young player and one of the best players I’ve worked with at this level. I hope he goes on and has a wonderful career because his ability certainly deserves that.”
First steps
That next step Unsworth was discussing was, in fact, a switch to Burton.
He made his Brewers debut from the bench on the same day Ipswich began their journey in League One with a 1-0 victory at the Pirelli Stadium, thanks to Garbutt’s strike.
Playing under Nigel Clough, Broadhead performed well, scoring three times in 22 matches as he took the place of a current Ipswich player with the Brewers.
"He was the one we had in mind as soon as Marcus Harness left," Clough said.
"We have had to wait, but the most important thing is that we have got him.
"He has been away with Everton's first team in pre-season, which is a very good sign.
"I think the way we play football has been a big factor in him choosing to come here.
"He's probably the most similar to Marcus in the squad now. He can also play in a wide position, and in training today he looked very comfortable.
"It's an exciting signing."
A switch
Like almost every player outside the top two divisions, Broadhead saw his Burton season cut short by the Covid pandemic.
The Toffees then opted to keep him with them for the behind-closed-doors season in 2020/21, with a pre-season injury a facor there, scoring 11 goals in 18 Premier League 2 games before breaking into the first-team picture.
It was Unsworth who first moved Broadhead to a central striking role during this period, with the young forward saying: “I changed my position to striker, which gave me more opportunities in front of goal.
“I can play anywhere across the front but playing as a striker could be the next step in my career.”
He made nine of Everton’s Premier League squads after March 1 of that season, coming off the bench for his debut at Brighton in April. He soon signed a new deal.
He said at the time: “The new contract means a lot to me, I have been here since I was 10 and moving through the age groups has been an unbelievable experience – and, hopefully, there are many more of those experiences to come. I want to play for Everton.
“The main goals for me are to play at Goodison Park and to score goals at Goodison Park. “I have trained with the first-team, all the lads are good and I enjoy it.
“I look at the movements of the strikers, Richarlison and Dom (Calvert-Lewin), and try to learn from them every day.” 
A big campaign
Next was Sunderland, a huge football club looking to dig themselves out of League One after several failed attempts. Sound familiar?
He started well but was truly motoring in the lead-up to Christmas, with his goal at Portman Road part of a run of six goals in as many matches.
His performance in Suffolk and run of goals meant Sunderland boss at the time, Lee Johnson, feared a recall: “We are very happy with Nathan and he is very happy here.
“The important thing with Nathan is that he has this run of games, he’s done extremely well, and I think he is thoroughly enjoying himself, so let’s keep our fingers crossed with that one that he will be allowed to stay.”
A major blow was to follow three days after he had celebrated with a knee slide in Suffolk, though.
The Black Cats had progressed well in the Carabao Cup and Broadhead’s big moment saw him score against Arsenal at The Emirates Stadium in their quarter-final tie, before he limped off with a hamstring injury which Johnson described as ‘a disaster’.
The injury kept him out until March, but Broadhead returned and played a big role in Sunderland’s success, netting five more goals, including two winners in 1-0 victories, before featuring as a late substitute in Sunderland’s Wembley victory over Wycombe.
Moving on up
Broadhead was in the Championship, but not with Sunderland.
The Black Cats wanted to sign him full-time but he ended up at Wigan on loan, with a suggestion he saw his chances of regular football being greater with Leam Richardson’s side. That was key, given his desire to make the Wales squad for the winter World Cup.
"First of all, Nathan, when he was here, did remarkably well for us," Sunderland boss Alex Neil said.
"So we're really grateful for his time here and what he did.
"Equally, there's been a lot of talk about us and Nathan over the summer. Our preference would have been to sign Nathan on a permanent deal, because we want to sign young players who've got their best years ahead of them.
"He's obviously gone to Wigan and good luck to him.”
Richardson spoke glowingly when discussing Broadhead on a number of occasions during the first half of the season: “One of the big things we look for is character, he’s a fantastic person and individual.
“His attributes speak for themself, for the goals that he will bring, the energy levels and the pace.
“He will walk into that dressing room and be part of it from day one because of the person he is.”
Broadhead didn’t get the starts he would have wanted at Wigan, though, splitting his 22 appearances equally between starts and coming off the bench.
His first two Wigan goals, against Birmingham and Blackburn, secured 1-0 wins. He seems to have a habit of doing that. His next three were all in losses.
But, by the time he was recalled by Everton, there was a sense of disappointment as the Latics lost a player who new manager Kolo Toure wished to keep.
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