Town boss Mick McCarthy says the impact made by a number of youngsters during pre-season has been an upside of the Blues’ lack of success in the transfer market this summer.

Andre Dozzell, 17, has continued his progress having broken into the first team at the end of last season, while 18-year-old James Blanchfield (above) has featured regularly throughout Town’s friendly programme and Tristan Nydam, 16, made his first appearance for the senior side at Cambridge on Saturday.

“That’s been good, the performances from some of them,” McCarthy said. “Tristan was good [at Cambridge], I thought James Blanchfield was excellent and Dozzer’s come on and played his usual game, scored his goal. That for me is a real positive, that’s nice.”

Born in Southend, central midfielder Blanchfield, who signed a one-year deal with an option for a further season earlier in the summer, was with Arsenal’s youth set-up for eight years before joining the Blues in July 2014, having previously spent time on trial with Manchester United.

Zimbabwe-born, Colchester-raised box-to-box midfielder Nydam, who was on standby for the England U17s squad for the European Championships in June, only starts the first year of his academy scholarship this summer, but McCarthy says he is in his thoughts for the season ahead.

“He’s got a chance because there’ll be no emergency loans,” the Town boss added. “And I don’t want to take somebody else’s kids when we’ve got our own talented quite prodigious kids. Tristan is one of them.

Nydam

“I think James Blanchfield is as well, I thought he was excellent in the first half and we know Dozzer is.

“I’d like to give them their heads rather than take somebody else [on loan] and find they’re not quite up to it because very often we take them and they haven’t played in the Championship, although I would say Ainsley [Maitland-Niles] was great for the first half of the season, I think he just ran out of gas.”

Also involved throughout pre-season has been Irish U18 international striker Shane McLoughlin, 19, while 17-year-old Ben Morris also featured in the earlier games.

Skipper Luke Chambers says the youngsters have benefited from being given their chance in pre-season and believes Portman Road is a great place to be for young players.

Dozzell

“James Blanchfield has done well, they’ve all done well and they’re thriving with the opportunity they’ve been given,” he said.

“All you can do is chuck them in. No one had heard of Teddy Bishop before he played at Derby [two years ago]. The lads had trained with him three or four times, he came in and he was an absolutely world beater.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the boys to take because the squad’s not the biggest and if you’re a young player at Ipswich Town and you’re good enough, you’re going to get an opportunity. I wouldn’t really want to be anywhere else if I was a young player at the moment.”

Town play their final away game of pre-season at Charlton this evening (KO 7.45pm). They complete their friendly programme with Saturday's home match against Belgium second division side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (KO 3pm).

Meanwhile, the club will announce the squad numbers for the season ahead later today.

Photo: Action Images

itfccymru added 06:21 - Jul 26 The club said the squad numbers would be announced yesterday, but Mick wanted to hold back for a 'specific reason' according to the club, so hopefully see a new arrival today. My betting is AMN, heard any more on this Phil?
3

Fatboy added 07:11 - Jul 26 You can't win anything with kids.
-1

parhamblue added 07:19 - Jul 26 It's fantastic that we've got this much young talent in MF. I don't see any problem playing one of the kids in every game alongside Bish or Bru and one DMF. McDonnell and Benyu weren't mentioned in this piece, so that makes six! Then there's Patterson in a more forward role. Rotate them so they don't get burned out.
9

DanLyles added 07:39 - Jul 26 Great credit should be given to our Academy (Category 2 remember) and everybody behind the scenes. It's perfectly plausible that at certain points this season we could be fielding 5 or 6 youth products at the same time in competetive games (Kenlock, Emmanuel, Smith, Hyam, Bishop, Dozzell). What a great advertisement for recruiting young talent in the future, especially when you consider how few youngsters come through the ranks and get a chance at other clubs. Their progress and promotion to the first team is partly down to their talent and partly down our lack of spending and I hope we can strike a balance between giving these youth products a chance and getting some proven quality through the door. The creative goal scoring wingers/midfielders we all crave could still come in and be pushed by the likes of Dozzell and 'Blanch'. If they are good enough then they should take their place in the team like Bishop. Emmanuel and Kenlock are in this position now, providing cover for Chambers and Knudsen. Let's hope the 'favourites' concept is a thing of the past, as it is a stumbling block to progress. I won't hold my breath though.

20

bring_back_Wickham added 08:15 - Jul 26 Mojo - I hope you meant to type 'heed'!
0

BlueNomad added 08:32 - Jul 26 But none of them cost millions! Lack of ambition! ME out! MM out!
-2

iaintaylorx added 08:33 - Jul 26 One of very few things to be excited about this upcoming season is the youngsters coming through, but I just hope they are actually given a shot and not just praise and then loaned out to a Blue Square team!!
7

Michael11 added 08:55 - Jul 26 If we're genuinely excited by some talented boys coming through the academy and looking to bed them in and build something for a couple of seasons then I'd get behind that 100%. However, It just seems like he's saying it to appease the fans because we haven't signed.
5

Michael11 added 08:55 - Jul 26 ^^ Haven't signed anyone yet rather.
1

ITFCGloryDays added 08:59 - Jul 26 'And I don't want to take somebody else's kids when we've got our own talented quite prodigious kids.' MM. And yet AMN is rumoured to be on his way.
1

Fatboy added 09:07 - Jul 26 “Tristan was good [at Cambridge], I thought James Blanchfield was excellent and Dozzer's come on and played his usual game, scored his goal. That for me is a real positive, that's nice.” Couldn't agree more. I didn't know who Nydam was when he came on at Cambridge, so to find out he was a 16-year-old first year scholar made his performance all the more impressive. Blanchfield didn't look at all out of place mixing it with the first team and we all know about Dozzer.

6

theipswichman added 09:09 - Jul 26 Very excited by this, the may not be 100% ready to make the step up week in, week out but if they get a good 10-15 games under their belts then they'll be ready and raring to go the next season. This is what we need, a plan for the future, perhaps these kids could mature into a team that get's us back to the premiership. Nydam sounds very promising, to be in Micks plans at 16 must mean he has a lot of talent, very excited by him and dozzell and of course Teddy, Emmanuel and Kenlock who have already held their own in championship matches (In fact Teddy's shone in the championship).

9

Kirbmeister added 09:51 - Jul 26 Michael11 - who are we going to sign then? Imagine a group of quality players out there and available. They are going to pick bigger richer more high profile clubs than ours. That's not down to MM. We finish higher that teams like Leeds every season but I'm afraid they are still way bigger and more attractive to sign for than we will ever be.
3

Wickets added 10:00 - Jul 26 The plan for this season and next is and was always to use our own younger players as and when needed , ok with me.
3

muccletonjoe added 10:10 - Jul 26 Would be nice to see all supporters get behind thhe team and give these lads the encouragement they are going to need in the season ahead. In the case of Nydam we may well have exactly what we have been needing in midfield.
8

The_Kinks added 10:14 - Jul 26 Great news for the future 👍
2

GiveusaWave added 10:24 - Jul 26 Nydam, Benyu, Morris, Dozzell, Blanchfield, Pattersen could all potentially be first team footballers this year. Shame we lost Charlie Brown as he could have got game time this year and won't get anywhere at Chelsea. Bad decision on his part.
3

Garv added 10:29 - Jul 26 How had Bishop only trained with the first team four times before playing at Derby?! He was our best midfielder even then!
1

Garv added 10:30 - Jul 26 I genuinely though Nydam was a mascot on Saturday.
4

chripswich added 10:38 - Jul 26 “It's a fantastic opportunity for the boys to take because the squad's not the biggest and if you're a young player at Ipswich Town and you're good enough, you're going to get an opportunity. I wouldn't really want to be anywhere else if I was a young player at the moment.” . . . . PLAY THEM THEN... YOU F****** DINOSAUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..i'd rather be mid table or even worse with some youthful enthusiasm, building for a future (even if its elsewhere) than 'hoofalongamick' with journeymen "putting a shift in.."

-7

Cloddyseedbed added 10:39 - Jul 26 No please no AMN. Not the right attitude shown overall. I admit MM did not help on where he expected him to play. Nothing will change this year on that.
2

ThatMuhrenCross added 11:01 - Jul 26 Play them this season. What have we got to lose? Our established first teamers aren't good enough anyway, so perhaps the youngsters might surprise us.
2

IamSpartacus added 11:21 - Jul 26 The same joy suckers are out in force again I see. Even with a story that is positive, and more in keeping with the history of the club, they still won't be happy until we are financially ruined. A few seasons ago, when Jewell was systematically ruining the club, we had a handful of players that we owned & NO realistic chance of a youth system working, this would have been heaven. Sure, it would be nice if we had the money to buy big, but we don't, so perhaps some need to get a grip and be pleased that we will have more bona fide home grown talents to cheer this season.

9

BlueNomad added 11:41 - Jul 26 Iamspartacus, HarryS_B and LightningBoy - my irony is lost on you then! I am delighted the youngsters are getting a chance and have no patience with those who drip on about how we should be spending money we haven't got. Never mind.
0

BrettenhamBlue added 12:00 - Jul 26 Dozzell and Bishop are both ready to step up. I watched many of the U21 and U18 fixtures last season and results were justifiably extremely poor. Benyu shows moments of class hence the interest from Spurs. Nydam is extremely strong and has good work rate given his age. McLoughlin works the channels and runs hard but finishing is erratic. Morris good defensive forward who seems to always get on the end of corners. Sam Ford and Brown were the two outstanding talents but they are no longer with us. Some of the team football though was awful, dreadful mistakes and retention of the ball was non existent. Defensive errors in abundance but lack lustre finishing from opposition strikers. Too much hoofball which worked when Sam Ford was with us but was awful after he left. Alabi was the true star but he's long gone.

3

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls