Chelsea striker joins Scunthorpe United on loan

Ike Ugbo will return to League One in a short-term loan to promotion hopefuls, Scunthorpe United.

Ugbo, who turns 20 in less than a month, was prolific at every youth level with the Chelsea academy teams and started last season with a loan move to Barnsley in the Championship. In retrospect, it was probably too big a jump for the youngster to make at the time, especially given the fact that Barnsley were struggling to keep themselves afloat. By January, he had only managed to score 3 goals in 9 starts (18 appearances overall), and was being used sparingly. A drop down to League One with MK Dons followed, although it was yet another club in turmoil that Ugbo traveled to - the Dons had a revolving door of managers, were playing poorly and ultimately ended up getting relegated. Ike registered similar numbers there, scoring twice in 13 starts, which rounded off a poor season for the striker.

Rumours that Ugbo would join Scunthorpe on loan emerged when Paul Heckingbottom, who was the manager at Barnsley last summer, appeared to be the favourite to land the Scunthorpe job. He ultimately lost out to ex-Bradford City manager, Stuart McCall but despite that development, Ugbo’s loan has gone through. He’ll hope to play a key role in Scunthorpe’s endeavors to achieve promotion and perhaps secure a higher-level loan for himself in January, if not extend his current one.