Signing for the club back in January 2015 from Colchester United, Freddie Sears arrived at Portman Road looking to make up for lost time after enduring a career which had so much early promise but has ultimately failed to hit the heights expected of him. 

After coming through West Ham United's academy as a youngster, Sears was seen as a player who could well flourish at first team level for the Hammers, with the striker being quickly integrated into the squad back in the 2007/2008 campaign.

Things didn't go to plan for the player back then, with the forward only managing to notch three goals in over 50 games for his boyhood club, thus eventually seeing Sears leave East London for Colchester in the 2011/2012 season.

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After notching 36 goals for the Essex based club in what was the most successful spell of his career to date, Sears now finds himself at Portman Road in the midst of a battle for promotion from League One in what is his sixth season with the Tractor Boys.

After what has been another sub-par campaign for the front man, we decided to take an in-depth look at whether Sears really does have a future at Ipswich Town in our latest FLW Spotlight piece....

With just one goal to his name this season, Sears has largely suffered from both lack of fitness and form in a campaign in which he has found himself behind the likes of James Norwood, Kayden Jackson and Will Keane in the striking pecking order under Paul Lambert.

Averaging just one shot on target per game, it is clear that Sears is suffering from a severe lack of self confidence when in front of goal this term.

Whilst he has operated both up front and in the number ten position this term, Sears has largely failed to really get involved with the play, averaging just 7.7 passes per game, yielding a disappointing pass success rate of 72.9%, perhaps suggesting that he simply doesn't suit Lambert's possession based philosophy.

Sears also needs to greatly improve on his ball control this term, with the 30-year-old averaging 1.1 bad ball controls per game, indicating that a drop down to the club's under 23 side may be needed in order to increase the player's overall sharpness in match situations.

With just one year remaining on his current deal, Sears still has time in theory to turn things around at Portman Road, however the longer he goes without finding the net on the consistent basis, the more likely it is that he could be given his marching orders this summer as Ipswich look to cut costs if they miss out on promotion.