Town boss Mick McCarthy wasn’t surprised to learn that his fellow managers voted left-back Aaron Cresswell the ninth best player in the Championship at the recent Football League Awards.
Championship bosses were asked to select who they viewed as this season's top five players from opposition clubs in order and their scores were added up to produce a top 10.
"So he should be,” McCarthy said. "I can’t vote for him, so I didn’t vote for him, but he is recognised as one of the best around.
"It’s subjective and it really is open for discussion, and there’ll be somebody with a different opinion, but I think most people, and certainly most managers, can I call them learned people, will accept and say he’s certainly, if not the best, then one of the best in the league. I think he’s the best, I think he’s terrific.”
Cresswell moved to Portman Road from Tranmere in the summer of 2011 for tribunal-set compensation which eventually rose to £420,000, plus 20 per cent of the profit from his future sale, with plenty of Premier League clubs having kept tabs on his progress.
While the 24-year-old has firmly established himself as Town’s left-back since making that switch, McCarthy recently pushed him forward to left midfield during the second half of the 1-0 win at Yeovil with Tyrone Mings taking his place in the back four.
Is this something the Town boss, a big fan of Mings, whose opportunities have been limited by Cresswell’s consistency, might look to do more regularly?
"I did it first of all at Burnley at the end of last season,” he recalled. "But the game was a dead one really because we’d stayed up the week before and with the relief of that we didn’t play particularly well. It wasn’t a great game and then they got a screamer that put them 1-0 up [and then added a second].
"That helped Tyrone but I’m not so sure Cressy had his best game. Cressy’s the best left-back in the league and think all you do is compromise him. I’m not certain it would make us any better defensively.
"I think Cressy loved it for 10 or 15 minutes [at Yeovil] because it was like he was off the reins, he could go and play a bit.
"It’s a consideration but what I’d be doing would be moving the best left-back in the league to do a job that’s not really his. And when Tabby and Hunty can do that, it’s not necessary. But it’s a nice weapon to have.”
Liverpool-born Cresswell is contracted to Town until the summer of 2017 having signed new terms earlier in the season.
Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year Top 10
1 Danny Ings (Burnley)
2 Ross McCormack (Leeds United)
3 Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City)
4 Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest)
5 David Nugent (Leicester City)
6 Sam Vokes (Burnley)
7 Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
8 Kieran Trippier (Burnley)
9 Aaron Cresswell (Ipswich Town)
10 Will Hughes (Derby County)