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

IamSpartacus added 12:00 - Jul 26 Not every post is directed at you. Prag-blue. Plenty of other negative posts :-)
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leahcar88 added 12:04 - Jul 26 I thought kenlock Emmanuel dozzell bishop had been given a chance and played already Maybe I'm wrong
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Michael11 added 12:40 - Jul 26 @kirbmeister I'm sick of our fans talking about our club as if we're a 3rd rate conference team. We shouldn't be so easy to turn down for other clubs. Other teams similar to us in stature are still constantly managing to attract decent enough players so why can't we? I don't blame MM at all, he's done remarkable with what he's had but it's not a sustainable way of running the club.

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goat_man added 12:42 - Jul 26 To be honest, even now I'm sure these kids would be able to contribute more than Douglas.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 12:45 - Jul 26 While I'm soundly behind our Academy and the development of our own young players, it would be wrong to expect too much too soon. You can't suddenly play 4-5 together in the same first team and expect them to match seasoned Championship outfits. But I hope that this football year will see the gradual introduction of 2-3 (at least) of our "youngsters" in the hope that a couple (at least) will go on to make established Championship players. For me, Bryan Klug is and always has been the single most important person in ITFC and we are so lucky to have him. So yes, let's go down the Academy route instead of the "journeymen" route, even if it means we don't make top six. At least we could then have real pride in our team again, which in the current corporate climate is sometimes hard to remember.

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nysully added 13:22 - Jul 26 Now that there is no emergency loan MM will purely by accident be seen as a coach who gives youth a chance (of course it will only be because his hand will be forced) and we will have a very good season and Mick will take all the credit, as long as our youth get a chance he can have the credit he wants!
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Keaneish added 13:46 - Jul 26 The most boring pre-season i have ever experienced. No transfer activity, boring local friendlies, predictable rhetoric from the board and the staff, ticket sales down on the back of a turgid season... The only thing i'm looking forward to this season, at present, are watching Bishop and Dozzell.
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Surco72 added 14:50 - Jul 26 MM can talk them up all he likes and I will love it if they play and we have a mid table season , I just cannot see him playing them especially in their right positions . There is no way MM will play Bishop, Dozzell and Dids in the same team it is far too attacking for him , it will be Douglas/Skuse in the centre with the same back four as last season
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Orraman added 15:19 - Jul 26 Obviously these youngsters are not going to play week in week out, but by perhaps integrating two at a time alongside experienced championship players, these lads will benefit greatly from their experiences and give us something to savour in the forthcoming season and beyond. Hopefully they will be allowed to play without fear. I'm sure we fans will excuse their odd mistake but will MM?

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DebenBlue added 16:01 - Jul 26 Quentchev - You obviously don't know all the facts and reasoning behind Charlie Browns decision to move to Chelsea, therefore would suggest it's better not to comment, or suggest it was a bad decision. With regards to the article, look forward to MM playing the youngsters, but only if they play in their preferred positions. Bishop and Dozzell are not wingers !!
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jas0999 added 17:15 - Jul 26 Great news we have youngsters coming through and it would be great to see one or two break into the first team this season. However, we have to be careful that not too much pressure is applied. They will have a good game and maybe two or three bad ones. We saw that with AMN. It's important the youngsters are backed by experienced quality players and sadly our lack of transfer activity will hinder that. I'll support the youngsters, but if we had a team full of them, then we need to accept that a promotion campaign is highly unlikely.

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