There was one man determined to stop Preston North End from winning on Saturday, and that was Ipswich Town’s new loan signing Kieffer Moore.
Having joined from Bournemouth on deadline day, the Welsh striker came off the bench at half-time to lead a Tractor Boys comeback that nearly got them a point. The 6ft5 striker caused havoc in the Preston backline, but we have seen him do that on many occasions previously.
Any side in this league would love to have Moore lead the line, and Preston have reportedly had him very high on their wish list in the past.
The Sun’s Alan Nixon claimed in 2018 that North End wanted to land Moore, but were unwilling to meet Barnsley’s £2m price tag; a deal that would have been a club record for Preston at the time. Moore hadn’t set the world alight at that point. Aged 26 he had already played 11 games in the Championship in his first spell for Ipswich without scoring.
A loan move to Rotherham United benefited him as he scored 13 in 22 in League One, and halfway through that season Barnsley had took him back to the Championship. However he scored just 4 in 20 for The Tykes and couldn’t stop them from being relegated to League One.
A few months after those links Peter Ridsdale later admitted we had a bid accepted for an unnamed striker that would have broken our record, but then overnight they doubled their asking price. Everything pointed to it being Moore.
It would have been the ideal replacement for Alex Neil at the time, having sold Jordan Hugill for big money to West Ham earlier that year.
Moore stayed at Barnsley in League One scoring 17 goals and helping them back into the Championship. He then moved to Wigan Athletic for £3m, and scored 10 in 36 Championship games. Preston were once again linked with the tall striker, with Wigan desperate to raise some money in the summer of 2020.
The Daily Mail reported Preston and quite a few others were chasing Moore’s signature. But in the end he joined Cardiff City for £2m, with the striker having started to become a regular for Wales, qualifying for that nation through his grandfather.
In 2021 Frankie McAvoy was asked which Championship player he would most like to have in his side and he answered Kieffer Moore. McAvoy was of course assistant to Neil throughout the time rumours were linking Moore with a move to North End.
After 25 goals in 18 months for Cardiff, Bournemouth swooped to sign Moore, and he scored the goal to clinch promotion for them in 2022.
Kieffer hasn’t quite had the same effect in the Premier League, and when it was made clear he could be allowed to move on a temporary deal in January there would have been a host of clubs interested.
The chance for Preston to sign him has probably sailed now, with Moore now 31, and Preston having a good few options up front already.
He will always be a threat for the opposition though, and hopefully we don’t have to face him too many times in the future.