Blues legend Jason Dozzell says Town is the best place for his son Andre to be at this stage of his career, despite reported interest from Arsenal and one of his other former clubs, Tottenham.

The two North London clubs were linked with the 16-year-old over the weekend, while numerous other Premier League clubs are understood to have been keeping tabs on the academy product, also a midfielder.

“Someone told me about it and then I saw it on TWTD,” Jason, now a coach at the Town academy, told TWTD. “I don’t know anything about it.

“Experience tells me that paper talk is paper talk. There’s a big difference between someone having interest and putting a cheque on the table. As far as I’m concerned it’s nothing.”

He added: “Ipswich is the best place for him. He’s obviously been on the bench, he’s close, the manager likes him. His pathway at the moment is Ipswich Town.

“If he goes to a big club his pathway would be blocked, there will be a lot more players, a lot more better players, I would imagine.

“All you can ask for is to be close to the first team. I thought it would happen next year but it’s happening this year.

“I’m happy with the way he’s progressing, I’m happy with how they’re looking after him as a parent and that’s all you can ask for really.”

Andre, who turns 17 on May 2nd when a previously agreed two-year pro deal is set to kick in, was named amongst the subs for the home game with Nottingham Forest earlier this month, having been handed squad number 41 the previous week when he travelled with the senior squad for the first time ahead of the match at Huddersfield.

Jason with Frans Thijssen at Friday's Ex-Players' Dinner

His father, who is famously still the youngest scorer in the top flight, having netted on his Blues debut after coming off the bench in a 3-1 home victory over Coventry in 1984 aged only 16 years and 57 days, was delighted to see his son break into the matchday 18 for the first time.

“I was obviously proud when he was named on the bench, the same age as me when I made my debut,” he added. “Very, very strange but, as I say, he’s quite close at the moment, so why would he move? He’s only 16. I think his education will start here.”

Andre is currently away with the England U17 squad, along with academy team-mate Ben Morris, a prolific striker with the U18s this season, ahead of the Euro 2016 elite qualifying mini-tournament they are hosting later this week.

“He’s got three games, Turkey on Thursday, Finland on Saturday and Ukraine on the following Tuesday and I’ll be going up to them. Hopefully he’ll get a lot of minutes.”

Andre has previously won nine caps at U17 level and has recently worn the captain's armband, however, Jason says he may not be the skipper in these games.

He added: “The Chelsea and the Arsenal boys weren’t there for the last tournament and one of those boys is normally the captain so we’ll have to see what happens because they’re all there this time.”

Photo: Action Images

hoppy added 18:27 - Mar 21 Good advice Jason... now listen to your Dad, Andre, and don't get your head turned by the big bucks too soon... Town is the right place for you. Be good to see him progress with us, as too often we've let promising youngsters go too soon.
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Seasider added 18:38 - Mar 21 That's reassuring to hear from Jason. McCarthy's record for bringing through youngsters however is abysmal.Nobody in 3 1/2 years unless you include Teddie Bishop who is never fit enough to play. Sure the Dinosaur must have full choice over who plays,as otherwise the 50% target set by Milne (Evans) 4 years ago,of players from own Academy would be further along the line with only a year left.Clearly this target will not be met even if Andre does get to play regularly.

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southnorfolkblue added 19:17 - Mar 21 Seasider - so Tyrone Mings wasn't young then?
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Mark added 19:33 - Mar 21 I agree our recent record of bringing youngsters through is terrible, but from McCarthy's point of view I suppose they just have not been good enough. Whether Dozzell is remains to be seen, but I would love to see him given the chance. We might as well use the remaining matches this season to let youngsters feature.
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carsey added 19:51 - Mar 21 I well remember Dozzell senior scoring against Coventry I was 23 standing in the North Stand and realised I was getting old when footballers were 7 years younger than me. Good advice to his offspring hopefully McCarthy will give him and a few others a run out this season since promotion is now out of the question (even if mathematically it's still possible).
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Bluetone added 20:00 - Mar 21 @mark quote "I agree our recent record of bringing youngsters through is terrible, but from McCarthy's point of view I suppose they just have not been good enough." Or maybe McCarthy is just not good enough or adventurous enough to recognise the talent some of the younger players have. Time will tell.
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grumpyoldman added 20:19 - Mar 21 Seasider Mings was not a product of the academy
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bluefeast added 20:46 - Mar 21 Mick has only introduced 3 players in his whole managerial career from academies into first team squads that have played more than 10 first team games and bishop is one of them. MMs nose is so big he can't see whats at the end of it ,i.e. talent to be nurtured. Also mick plays a physical game not a skill full one , 17/18/19 year olds are generally not physical. If MM was manager of man u then Rashford wouldn't of got a debut ,but then neither would beckham ,scholes ,gigs , etc etc etc. The man is not for us ,we no what we like and w like what we know. Skill ,passion , and attacking flair ,not what we get is it

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lightingblue added 20:56 - Mar 21 With our strongest team starting and that includes subs. How many of these players are from the actual ipswich town youth team (ok acadamy). Unfortunately if the bloke who does my audit comes to my work place he would issue an Ncr for being none compliant. This is maybe one reason why we cannot get the top level acadamy status. How can we be a tier 1 if we show no signs of youth progress to the first team. Surely this all counts. Even if it was a box ticking process we are clearly not ticking all the boxes. This brings the next point of what is mr Evans actually doing with his investment. We are a hobby like some bloke who runs a Sunday morning club. Are we now a pub team and we are Evans and McCarthys jolly boys outing to margate.

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BrettenhamBlue added 21:23 - Mar 21 Love the headed flicks Dozzell used to regularly put in to Chris Kiwomya. Now that was a great combination and a great time for our club. Glad to hear that the new Dozzell is staying put, at least for the time being. Good for him and good for us. I can see opportunity aplenty for him next year in the first team while there is a good chance he'll disappear forever at Arsenal or Spurs. He could gain cult status very quickly at our club as long as our expectations aren't unrealistic.

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Poultman added 22:44 - Mar 21 Appreciate where we were and what MM has done but I agree with u bluefeast. I want and get hope when one of our own or preferably a bloody few get promoted from the youth set up each season like in the old days. Some might say that is s bit behind the times, I just say Southampton and I'm sure there are more if I really put my mind to it, it's what we were built on FFS

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ArnieM added 23:43 - Mar 21 as much as it grieves me to say this, but when a manager can actively "bench" all.his creative players when playing at home to a relegation threatened side, I do ask the question, " What chance does a developing Academy player have if making a truly meaniful progression into the senior first team at this Club now"?
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flyingdutchman added 05:03 - Mar 22 Spot on MM lost the plot get rid
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essex57 added 08:15 - Mar 22 I think the outcome to this is as I predicted when the story first broke. PJG unrealistic expectations have been the curse of ITFC followers for many years now. MM admitted he messed up Saturday if everything had gone as he expected there would of been 3 pages on here moaning about the style of football instead of 7 pages of everyone out . We are still in it.
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Gcon added 15:27 - Mar 22 Bluefeast - tell us about all the future stars that he missed from those academies.
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Seasider added 18:02 - Mar 22 southnorfolkblue-Tyrone Mings was purchased from Chippenham Town in December 2012,I believe on the recommendation of Russell Osman. Initially I think we only had to play a friendly;but later it was revealed that Ipswich paid £10k for him;so he didn't come through the Academy;and soon after arrival was in the first team squad.
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Seasider added 18:05 - Mar 22 grumpy old man.I know he wasn't,see above
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RRanger added 15:36 - Mar 23 What a load of b**locks some of you spout.Bishop,at just 18 ,played virtually a full season in our 1st team last year and he's been injured all season. Championship football is physically very demanding and I would much rather protect our young academy prospects. There are statistically very few academy players being played in any of the Premier League sides let alone the championship.Andre's Dad ,who I suspect has his son's best interests at heart, appears to be very happy with where his son is at the moment. Just look at the picture above: he barely looks 15 let alone 16. He'd be kicked to bits in the Championship. If you ask me this is just yet another excuse to have a good old moan at MM.

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