Think back to when you were a kid and watching football on the TV. A player picks the ball up on the edge of the box, dribbles past one or two defenders and then is faced with the goal. At that point, did you ever think “I hope he recycles possession here.”

At the risk of sounding more dinosaur than a velociraptor appearing on Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis’ podcast, one of the worst things about modern football is the dying breed of the midfield baller who just fancies having a go.

It used to be a staple of the Premier League. The midfield renegade who had ridiculous technique and was given the freedom to have a go from long range. These days, a failed long-range effort will have you scorned by the manager for failing to spot the winger who had more space out wide.

But there is one player in the Premier League who is pleasingly old school in his approach, Ipswich’s Julio Enciso.

The Paraguayan returned to Portman Road in the summer having spent the 2023-24 season on loan and Ipswich fans were rightly a little sceptical.

In his first stint at the club, Enciso was nothing special. He had come through the Brighton academy, but perhaps lacked the confidence or experience to be at his best. He played 13 games for the Suffolk club, scoring just two goals. Even if one of them was a screamer.

After Ipswich, he looked set to disappear into the BlueCo spreadsheet as he joined Strasbourg but in the summer, Ipswich, now managed by Enciso’s Strasbourg boss Gary O’Neil, brought the 22-year-old to the club permanently for a fee of £26m. Since then, he has been Ipswich’s best player.

For anyone of an Ipswich persuasion, he is stupidly good fun to watch. He possesses an excellent dribbling technique that means the ball is never more than an inch away from his leading foot, even while running at speeds as high as 34.4km/h and that close control makes him an absolute nightmare for defenders.

Enciso is seventh in the Premier League for most dribbles completed this season but what makes him particularly fun is that he will almost certainly get a shot away at the end of it. He is second behind only Erling Haaland for shots attempted this season having had 22 of them. Jeremy Doku, who tops the dribble metric, has had 10 shots this season in comparison.

And for a 22-year-old non-native, Enciso has shown a surprising desire to get amongst it from a physical standpoint too. He has won the possession in the final third the most of any Ipswich player this season and is more than happy to use his body instead of going down easily.

Every skill of Enciso was showcased in his excellent equaliser against Hull on Saturday.

The move starts with him being clattered in the back by Oli McBurnie and rather than go down, he springs forward and somehow manages to organise his feet quickly enough to skin Tim Iroegbunam.

And then it is panic stations for Nobel Mendy who is one-on-one with Enciso on the edge of the box. Enciso is right-footed so Mendy is smart to try and shift him onto his left side and Enciso even tricks him into thinking he is going right.

He feints right but cuts left and Mendy, whose momentum is taking him to Enciso’s right, has now lost a yard and given the Paraguayan the necessary space for a shot.

Enciso takes another touch to ensure he would be clear of Mendy’s diving leg and with his weaker foot picks out the top corner past Konstantinos Tzolakis.

It is a sublime goal that deservedly brought Ipswich level and rescued a point from a game that had threatened to get away from them.

Credit must also go to O’Neil for identifying Enciso as the answer to a problem that hampered Ipswich last time round in the Premier League.

In their first season back, Ipswich lacked goals from anyone other than Liam Delap. Sammie Szmodics was second top scorer on just four, Enciso is already halfway to that tally.

The blueprint of how to utilise Enciso was created by his national team. He has been described as the best Paraguayan talent of the last 30 years and the team is set up to flow through him. O’Neil recognised that and built his Strasbourg side in the same way, allowing Enciso to score nine goals in the second half of last season.

Having a number 10 who is given the freedom to shoot does require a specific tactical setup. Florentino Luis, Exequiel Palacios and Sasa Lukic are all players who are happy to sit and cover any space Enciso may leave behind while striker Emersonn has so far been more effective in bringing others into the game compared to Delap, whose instruction was to score. But it is so far proving effective.

If Ipswich are to stay up, and their start to the season suggests that is well within the realm of possibility, Enciso will be crucial to that. But more than that, the Portman Road faithful can simply enjoy a player who is focused on producing the most fun parts of football.