FORMER Cherry Jordan Ibe has made his return to football after many months away from the game, joining fifth-tier Ebbsfleet United.

Ibe was an unused substitute for Ebbsfleet’s 2-2 draw with Slough Town in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Once Cherries’ club-record signing, the Dorset side paying Liverpool £15million for his services in 2016, Ibe’s last senior game of football came for Derby in December 2020, coming off the bench to play three minutes against Stoke City in the Championship.

After departing Derby in the summer of 2021, the former Wycombe Wanderers winger joined Turkish second-tier outfit Adanaspor in January 2022, where he made no appearances in a four-month long spell.

In total, Ibe played 92 times for Cherries, scoring five times and producing nine assists.

It will be the 27-year-old’s first taste of non-league, having made his senior league debut in League One at the age of 15 for Wycombe.