New loanee Richie Wellens says Town are too big a club to be in a “false position” near the bottom of the Championship. The 32-year-old midfielder joined the Blues on a month’s loan last week and made his debut in the 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City.
Wellens, who had been out of action since suffering cruciate ligament damage at the end of last season, says he was offered the chance to drop a division as he continued his recovery but preferred a switch to a Championship side. However, his parent club put limitations on where he could go.
"Two or three weeks ago, Sheffield United wanted to take me on loan. I wasn’t quite ready to go and play football at that time,” he told BBC Radio Suffolk.
"Leicester preferred me to go to a League One club and I’d said I’d only go to Sheffield United. But by the time I’d said that their midfielder had come back from suspension, so that was off.
"And then Leicester said I could go to the bottom four clubs in the Championship, they obviously didn’t want to send me to a rival in the Championship.
"So, I looked at the bottom four clubs and Ipswich is a club in a false position, too big a club to be at the bottom of this league, so I’m looking forward to climbing the table in the next few weeks.”
He says he needed to be fitter to compete for a place in Nigel Pearson’s side: "It was difficult for him and difficult for me because I knew I wasn’t ready to go in their first team.
"They’re winning every week and the players in midfield were playing well and he obviously doesn’t want to change that.
"Under-21 games aren’t really competitive enough to get your fitness. I played one of them and it was really a non-event. He wants me to come here and play games, then I go back and we’ll assess the situation then.”
With the move very much about getting back to fitness rather than a long-term switch, Wellens says he wants to leave the Blues better off when his loan is up on November 10th: "I’m a winner, when I go out on the football pitch I want to start winning games and this club needs wins at this moment in time to climb the table, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”