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McCarthy Has Made Loan Decisions - Ipswich Town News

Manager Mick McCarthy is yet to speak to his Leicester counterpart Nigel Pearson about keeping midfielder Richie Wellens, whose loan spell is up after Saturday's game against Burnley, beyond his initial month. Longer term, McCarthy says he already knows which of Town’s eight loan players he’d like to keep at the club.

The former Ireland boss has said he would like to keep the ex-Manchester United trainee Wellens but whether that happens depends on a number of factors: "I haven’t spoken to [Foxes boss] Nigel Pearson and they are his parent club. There are a lot of things there. No doubt he’s been sent here to get fit.

"They’re still in a great position, so would he get back in the team? Nigel might see it that he wants to leave him here, he might want him back.

"Richie might want to stay here and play. I’ve no idea. I liked his performance on Saturday. I’ll speak to Nigel.”

In terms of which of the loan players — and Nigel Reo-Coker who is on a short-term deal until January — McCarthy already knows who he’d like to hold on to.

"I know now,” he said, "but I’m not going to tell you. Do you think I don’t know about DJ Campbell, Nigel Reo-Coker, Stephen Henderson, Danny Higginbotham, Daryl Murphy and Guirane N’Daw? I know about them, I knew before I came.

"What I would say is I think those players have all shown real commitment to playing here. I was delighted with them on Saturday, the ones that played, and Bilel Mohsni when he went on.

"I like their attitude towards it despite them being on loan. They don’t look to me like they’re just on loan to get fit and they’re not bothered. They look to me like they care, certainly on Saturday they were terrific.”

But he admits he’s concerned by the number of loanees which makes further new additions unlikely in the short-term.

"I can only play five of [the domestic loans]. I can only have five on the teamsheet and the four that started on Saturday played really well, they were good,” he said.

"That makes life complicated. I don’t know if any of those will go back. If they do, will I be able to get another one? Will I find someone? We’ll see, that’s all in the mix.”

Long-term, he will be after new recruits with McCarthy stressing that Town are far from out of the woods, despite Saturday’s victory at Birmingham: "We’ve won one game. We’re bottom of the league with seven points, we’ve been getting slapped every week, I’ve had one game, which was a good performance, a good result and it makes everything seem a little bit brighter.

"But, all that went on before, we could fall back into that malaise. I’ve no idea. I’ve not inherited Brazil, we played a fairly direct way of playing on Saturday, but it was a winning performance. But I’ll be looking for players, of course I will.”

In terms of those already at the club, he admits he’s still finding his feet: "I’m getting there, some of the lads I keep having to ask their names, not the first teamers, but the kids.”

The manager says he’ll work on that when he’s at Playford Road on Wednesday morning for the rearranged U21 match against Swansea City (KO 11am).

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