Kieran McKenna makes admission over potential Ipswich Town player agreements

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says the club are in no hurry to agree new deals with their soon to be out of contract players.

As things stand, James Norwood, Sone Aluko, Tom Carroll, Tyreece Simpson and Kayden Jackson are all out of contract at the end of this season, although the club do have the option to extend all of those deals by a further 12 months, with the exception of Jackson’s.

With the exception of Simpson, who impressed during a loan spell with Swindon Town during the first half of the season, all of those players have been part of Ipswich’s senior squad throughout the campaign.

But despite that, it seems McKenna, who only took over at Portman Road back in December, is relaxed about the situation around player contracts.

Speaking about the prospect of new deals for first-team players, McKenna was quoted by The East Anglian Daily Times as saying:“It’s still early days.

“We’re trying to win games, so it’s not a case of ‘let’s throw the kids in or have a little experiment and look at everyone for next year’.  The numbers have been trimmed down, but we’ve still got a big squad.

“It’s about doing due diligence on the players in the door first of all and making the right decisions as to who’s going to be part of it for next year and who it’s going to be best – both for them and us – to seek pastures new. We’re not in a big rush to make those decisions just yet.” 

Having enjoyed something of an upturn in form since McKenna’s appointment, Ipswich currently sit ninth in the League One table, five points adrift of the play-off places.

The Tractor Boys are next in action when they host Burton Albion on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

This does feel like a rather sensible approach for McKenna and Ipswich to take