Paul Taylor could end up costing Ipswich Town almost £3,000 per minute of competitive action

The 27-year-old striker has been told to stay away from the Playford Road training ground for the remaining six months of his deal at the club, manager Mick McCarthy having issued a terse response when asked about the player following the expiration of his recent loan spell at Championship rivals Rotherham.

McCarthy’s predecessor, Paul Jewell, signed Taylor for a fee of £1.5m from Peterborough on August transfer deadline day of 2012. And it’s understood he is on wages of around £10,500-a-week, meaning his three-year contract will have cost another £1.5m.

So, with his nine starts and 16 substitute appearances for the club totalling around 1,010 minutes on the pitch, the Liverpudlian – whose sole goal for the club came in the 3-2 win at Blackpool in November 2013 – will have cost Ipswich roughly £2,970-per-minute of playing time.

“He’s not back here – and he’s not coming back,” said the Blues boss, when asked about Taylor, a player who spent 10 months sidelined with a foot injury soon after his arrival at Portman Road and who has been on the fringes ever since a return to fitness.

Has there been any interest in the forward? “I don’t know.” So his future is in the hands of his agent? “Yeah. It’s not something I’m dealing with because he’s not coming back. Full stop.”

So, he won’t train with the club again? “Correct. I thought full stop covered it.” And will he remain contracted with the club until the summer? “I believe so, yeah. Do you know what? I’m not that interested. Sorry. He’s not coming back though, full stop. And you can put that full stop in.”

McCarthy has spent a little under £250k on transfer fees since taking over as Blues boss in November 2012, Anthony Wordsworth and recent recruit Freddie Sears costing £100,000 apiece from Essex neighbours Colchester United. He has also slashed the wage bill.

Yesterday’s transfer deadline passed without any ins or outs at Portman Road; no offers coming in for key players following a hands-off warning and McCarthy keeping faith with his close-knit 22-man first-team squad.

The Blues boss, whose fourth-place side have produced some flat performances at the start of 2015, may well yet utilise the ‘emergency’ loan window when that opens next week.