Blues boss Mick McCarthy says U18s coach Gerard Nash is likely to take charge of the U21s, replacing Mark Kennedy who has moved to Manchester City where he will be working with their U15s.
Kennedy is far from the first Playford Road employee recruited from Town by a Premier League club in the last year or so.
"We’re doing really well aren’t we?" McCarthy said. "We got Krausey [James Krause] to Arsenal, an academy analyst. We got Jordan Miles, our [first-team] analyst, has gone to West Ham.
"We got [academy coach] Liam Manning to West Ham [last summer] and we got Sparky to Manchester City. So we’re really filling Premier League teams with good quality staff.
"I always think it’s good for them. I’ve been there at their age. I wanted to progress and do as well as I can and if me and TC and us as a club can help them and they go on and better themselves, isn’t that great? That’s part of it as well.
"[Academy analyst] Will Stevenson will take Jordan’s job and Nashy will probably do Sparky’s job.
"We’ll promote from within because we’ve got loads of lads who come and do the academy, they’re doing the U12s, U13s, U14s every weekend and I think it’s right that we should bump them up, to be honest. They’re generally all lads who have an affinity with Ipswich.”
Irishman Nash, who celebrates his 30th birthday today, became an academy coach after his fledgling playing career as a centre-half was ended in 2006 after he suffered cruciate knee ligament injuries, having made one senior sub appearance for the Blues in addition to spells on loan at Hartlepool and Southend.