Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has explained why he sanctioned Freddie Ladapo's loan exit before signing a replacement striker.

The Blues boss' forward options were significantly diminished at the start of this month when George Hirst required hamstring surgery and Dane Scarlett was recalled by parent club Tottenham.

Ladapo was subsequently loaned out to League One outfit Charlton Athletic, leaving Kayden Jackson as the only out-and-out striker option.

It's no secret that McKenna is keen to bolster a Championship promotion-chasing squad with a couple of new front men in the final week of the transfer window, but that attempts to do so have proved frustrating thus far.

Asked why he'd let Ladapo leave before getting someone else through the door, McKenna replied: "There’s a balancing act in making decisions like that. 

“Freddie’s been an important member of the squad over the last 18 months and was still getting minutes on a weekly basis. 

“Firstly, we felt it was the right thing to do for him. You don’t want to go too long in your career without regularly starting games and it’s probably been 12 months now where he hasn’t started too many games. 

"Secondly, we also felt it was a necessity to free up the numerical space in the squad (Championship clubs can only register 25 senior players) and, from a financial point of view, it was important too. It was a good offer from Charlton, so the decision was made to let him him move and hopefully that will allow us to be successful in the next week of the window."