Boss Mick McCarthy says striker David McGoldrick “wants to come back flying” after missing much of the second half of last season through injury. The Town manager believes 2015/16 is a big season for the Republic of Ireland international.

The 27-year-old returned to match action as a late sub in the play-off semi-final second leg at Norwich having been out of action since February with a troublesome thigh injury sustained in the defeat at Rotherham.

He subsequently joined up with the Irish squad for their June fixtures and won his second full cap when he played the first half of the 0-0 friendly draw with England in Dublin, having also featured for 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors training game against Northern Ireland, which also ended goalless.

Like Ireland team-mate Daryl Murphy and Scotland’s Christophe Berra, McGoldrick, who netted seven times last season, having scored 13 in the previous campaign, has been given an additional two weeks off.

“Didz missed out through injury at the end of two seasons,” McCarthy said. “He was the top player the season before last and last season he played very well until he got injured unfortunately.

“He overshadowed Murph the year before then Murph did him last season before he got injured.

“It is a big season for him and he knows that. We spoke about it at the end of the season and he wants to come back flying.

“He’s having a couple of extra weeks off because he was involved with the Republic of Ireland.

“Hopefully if he stays injury free, his season will be great, not a problem at all. He’s a top player.”

McGoldrick, who joined the Blues from Nottingham Forest, initially on loan, in January 2013, is entering the final year of his Town contract.

Photo: Action Images

airliner added 06:19 - Jul 4 Looks like he may be off then as 1 year left
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WaffleMan added 06:19 - Jul 4 Wow I wish we would've sold him for the £8 million Leicester offered based on his last season. But he now needs to work hard to get in over Sears who based on last season realistically should start but Pitman sounds strong too so plenty of competition up top. Excited about this season
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Len_Brennan added 06:44 - Jul 4 McGoldrick did play well before his injury & that tends to be forgotten. MM changed the set up of the how the team played, which helped Murphy get more scoring opportunities (and how he responded) to McGoldrick's cost, but he really contributed nonetheless. He was, and still is, our most creative player & if fit for a full season is just as likely to hit the 20 goal mark as Murphy next season, in my opinion. Undoubtedly, the fact that he was been outscored & the feeling that he wasn't getting the chances of the previous season, coupled with rejection of the £7.5m transfer to a Premiership club that would have suited him geographically, led to him being frustrated & maybe a couple of iffy performances. I still think he was hugely important in us getting off to a good start & he contributed massively to creating chances for Murphy which got his confidence flying. It will be interesting to see which pair of strikers MM starts the season with, as Sears was a revelation & Pittman is the out & out finisher type striker we have been missing since Marcus Stewart was here. Fully fit & on form, McGoldrick would still make my starting XI. I do believe we will keep Murphy (unless some absolutely ridiculous offer comes in) as I think MM would have looked to sign Chris Wood as a replacement had he been resigned to losing him. He really rates Wood, took him on loan while not even fully fit, he is proven at Championship level, would be a natural replacement, is around 8 years younger & would have cost £3m less than was the likely Murphy fee would be.

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BrettenhamBlue added 07:44 - Jul 4 Hopefully he will come back to form. Jonathan Bru would be a good signing in central defence. 30 years old, Captain of Mauritius and would fit in easily to the team.
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DurhamTownFan added 08:02 - Jul 4 I agree with what MM is saying here. Basically, 'play well early on and you'll get a big new contract'. I don't think McG will ever thrive at the top level because he is too slow. So he's got to grab his chance this year for us. I put him ahead of Sears because of his experience and nous on the ball. Don't know about Pitman, not seen how he plays. A big year indeed!

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patthegimp added 08:03 - Jul 4 As someone said in a previous post and I have said before- we have been looking for a creative scoring mid fielder. Surely McGoldrick fits that bill perfectly. With Pittman, Murphy and Sears plus or minus Noel Hunt we have the ideal environment for McG to become that creating scoring mid fielder.
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muccletonjoe added 08:12 - Jul 4 Why would he need extra weeks off after not playing for so long?
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ArnieM added 08:13 - Jul 4 He's only had one good season with us and has not completed a season since that. Forest fans used to call him "sick note". I hope he can recover previous good form as he is a very skilful player, but there's a nagging doubt that we have missed a massive opportunity to get a bloody good fee for him, and that he will never hit that one season height again .
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JimmyJazz added 08:22 - Jul 4 Most of us were glad we didn't sell him last summer. Wonder if in 12 months time there will be a similar regret about not selling Murphy?
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Paulblue62 added 08:35 - Jul 4 If we can get him fully match fit, will be the difference between us going up or not. Real quality player and a joy to watch.
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Cakeman added 08:36 - Jul 4 as Len_brennan said, it will be interesting to see which strikers we start with. Murph and Sears ended the season strong so it would take someone special to oust them. However Pitman will start too I would have thought, so maybe Sears playing behind Murph and Pitman to start with? Then with McGoldrick waiting for his chance from the bench. Others have said it in other threads before but it is true that at the moment we have only really had one full excellent season out of both Murph and McGoldrick. I hope both can repeat their past successes but it will be difficult.

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PJH added 08:36 - Jul 4 If fit Didz could be very important for us next season.He is,I believe,the most skilled player on our books and as is being said more and more he looks perfect for an attacking midfielder role.
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titanicclown added 08:43 - Jul 4 McG is absolute class in the championship and he transforms our team when he plays. I seriously doubt Sears or Pitman will be ahead of him. He is our playmaker and talisman and we are lucky to have him. Would love to see him playing behind Murph and FS but tough to get the wingers in the team playing like that. Gonna be interesting what MM does but whatever formation or personel he uses McG will be at the heart of it. Cmon Didz tear it up again!!

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DanLyles added 08:46 - Jul 4 It will be interesting to see whether Mick plays 4-3-3 as we did in the play offs. When we had 11 men on the pitch we matched the scum with this formation and had arguably our best spell before Christmas with it too. We could play Fraser, Didz and Murph as a 3, with Bishop, Skuse and Bru in midfield (or possibly the goalscoring midfielder we hope MM to sign). With Sears, Pitman and Maitland-Niles as options from the bench. Or maybe as patthegimp suggested above, Didz playing in a deeper role behind two of Murphy, Pitman and Sears, and increasing our goals from the midfield area. At the back I hope we start the season with Parr, Berra, Chambers, then sign a right back and a top keeper.

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PortmanTerrorist added 08:55 - Jul 4 Happy with front line. OK with Mid if a couple of our wingers (we have enough of them now) step up. Central Mid will be defensive even with Bish in there. JUST GET GREG HALFORD IN FOR RB & CENTRAL COVER ! Obviously an MM player, on a free, needs a new challenge and will improve us !
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ArnieM added 09:06 - Jul 4 Didzy is to slow to play up front. He IS our creative goal scoring midfielder however.
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ArnieM added 09:06 - Jul 4 Didzy is to slow to play up front. He IS our creative goal scoring midfielder however.
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kevlowestoft added 09:09 - Jul 4 When ever I attend last year which was predominantly before xmas, Did's was a pleasure to watch and is a massive player for us. If fit he will play and we will play 442 there's no doubt
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blues1 added 09:27 - Jul 4 I understand what people are saying about taking the bid from Leicester but the fact is, as I have been informed by a reliable source, there was no bid. From what I'm led to believe, Leicester enquired as to how much we wanted for him, we quoted them £8m and do they looked elsewhere. Really believe if they had offered that amount we would have accepted it
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yorksblue added 09:29 - Jul 4 It would be madness not to start with Sears
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runningout added 10:26 - Jul 4 when McGoldrick is fit, he's a diamond...Although deceivingly slow, I'm sure he's not.. Hope he is a wanted man again before long
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jpring89 added 10:31 - Jul 4 I think whatever happens it could well be his last season with us I fear if he hits the ground running has a great season even if we go up someone will snatch him for nothing
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runningout added 11:04 - Jul 4 not many one club players around these days
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patrickswell added 13:46 - Jul 4 Really hope McGoldrick stays fit all season - his absence in the latter part of the last two seasons has potentially proved the difference between making the top 6 in 2014 and maintaining automatic promotion form in 2015. Also hope he comes back with a better attitude, he showed worrying signs of annoyance that Murphy was out scoring him in his last few matches (remember all those shots from distance when he had team mates on for passes). Just get on with playing, Didzy, and the rest will take care of itself.

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TimmyH added 15:32 - Jul 4 Needs a good start psychologically speaking otherwise his head might drop - still a good player at Championship level, if he plays well there's no reason we can't have another goodish season.
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