MIDE Shodipo has been Oxford United’s most prolific player since bagging two minutes into his debut against MK Dons in October.
No U’s player has found the net more times than the 23-year-old’s seven in 16 games, with Matty Taylor just behind on six – although the striker is the club’s overall top scorer, with nine in total.
Shodipo, who joined United from QPR until the end of the campaign, is the latest in a long line of loanees to have a real impact in front of goal.
James Constable and Matthew Green scored 26 and 23 times respectively before joining the U’s permanently in the Blue Square Premier.
Just four players have scored more than Shodipo while on loan since United’s return to the football league in 2010, with Taylor top of the list.
MATTY TAYLOR
It felt like a massive coup when the U’s captured the striker on a season-long loan from Bristol City in August 2019.
The goalscorer from Kidlington took a while to get going, thanks in part to a groin injury sustained at former club Bristol Rovers.
But after opening his account in the 6-0 win at Lincoln City in September he never looked back.
Matty Taylor Picture: David Fleming
Taylor scored 17 times in 37 games in 2019/20, including six in four matches last February to help United climb into the Sky Bet League One
play-off places before the coronavirus pandemic halted the season.
He was unable to fire his hometown club into the Championship, but penned a three-year deal in August to sign permanently.
MARCUS BROWNE
The West Ham United loanee racked up 60 games during two loan spells with the U’s, scoring 14 goals.
His first stint at United came in 2018/19, where he notched nine times in 44 matches from midfield – the highlight arguably his double in a 4-2 win over Rochdale in November 2018.
Browne joined Middlesbrough in summer 2019, but a lack of action at the Riverside Stadium saw him re-join the U’s last January.
Marcus Browne Picture: Richard Parkes
He quickly became a pivotal figure and his final goal secured a 1-1 draw in the play-off semi-final first leg at Portsmouth, before he returned to Boro when the season ended.
CONOR MCALENY
With ten goals in 19 games, McAleny has the best strike-rate of any of the loanees in this list.
After arriving from Everton on deadline day of the January 2017 transfer window, the striker scored on his first U’s start – a 1-0 win at Charlton Athletic – and followed it up with a hat-trick in the 4-0 thumping of Chesterfield four days later.
Conor McAleny Picture: Richard Parkes
Another treble against Bury came soon after and, following a spell at Fleetwood Town, McAleny is now at Oldham Athletic.
RYAN WILLIAMS
Chris Wilder signed the Australian on a season-long loan in August 2013.
Ryan Williams Picture: David Fleming
Williams hit eight goals in 42 appearances as United spent the first half of the season in the top three, before tailing off dramatically to finish outside the play-offs.
The winger, now at Portsmouth, scored in the final two games of that season – a 2-1 home defeat to Accrington and the 3-1 loss to Northampton Town, then led by Wilder.
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