Ipswich Town forward Freddie Sears could depart Portman Road this month in a transfer back to his former club Colchester United, per the Daily Gazette.

The 31-year-old - who has been on the sidelines at his current club due to injury - has been linked with the U's as they search for a replacement for Luke Norris, who has departed to League Two rivals Stevenage.

Sears has completed just 90 minutes in the league just once this season for the Tractor Boys, netting only one goal as he's failed to nail down a regular place in the line-up.

The West Ham academy graduate missed most of 2019 with a cruciate ligament rupture and would've hoped to have had a more prosperous 2020 - but with his contract expiring this summer and his current season not really going to plan, a move seems on the cards.

And his former club could be set to pick up the pieces, with Sears spending three successful years at Colchester - both on loan and permanently - between 2012 and 2015.

Can you name each of these 17 ex-Ipswich Town players just by looking at these 3 clues?

In-fact it was the U's who struck a deal with Ipswich for Sears six years ago for £100,000, and it will probably take less than that for the Essex side to bring him back to the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

The Verdict

Even when you take out the nostalgia that Colchester fans will probably be feeling, this would be a good signing for the League Two side.

Steve Ball has lacked an out-an-out striker all season, with natural attacking midfielder Jevani Brown featuring as the main man more often than not - repaying the faith with seven league goals.

But Sears will offer a different kind of threat at the top-end of the pitch - one that runs into the channels and creates space for the likes of Brown, Kwame Poku and Callum Harriott in behind - and his arrival would surely give the U's the best forward line in the division.