New Blues signing Adam Webster says the chance to join Town was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down. The 21-year-old became Mick McCarthy’s most costly Blues recruit when he signed from Portsmouth at the start of the month for a fee of £700,000 with Matt Clarke moving in the opposite direction.
Webster, from West Wittering near Chichester, had been with League Two Pompey for a decade but felt moving to Championship Town was something he couldn’t pass up.
"I’ve been there since I was 11, so a long time. I’ve been in the first team for a good four and a half, five years as well,” he told BBC Suffolk.
"I loved my time there but this is an opportunity I could never turn down and one I’m really looking forward to.”
Webster, who won caps with England’s U18s and U19s, believes the Championship is a less forgiving environment than League Two.
"It’s full of quality, any mistakes that you make you’re probably going to get punished, whereas mistakes you make in League Two sometimes you get away with them,” he added.
"Definitely in the Championship there is so much quality in every team. There’s not a bad side in the league, so you’ve got to be concentrating and you’ve got to be at your best otherwise you get punished.”
Webster has experience of the Championship from Portsmouth’s days in the second tier, while he was also in the Pompey side which drew at Portman Road in the FA Cup third round in January and went on to win the replay 2-1 at Fratton Park.
"We all played well that day, that was like a cup final for us against such a big team,” he said recalling the first match, which ended 2-2.
"We played against Reading and Derby [in the Capital One Cup] earlier on in the season and we did really well against them as well. That will help me this season. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Webster missed Portsmouth’s League Two play-off semi-final defeat to Plymouth as he had picked up an ankle injury which has prevented him from being involved in the first few weeks of pre-season training with the Blues.
He admits that’s been a frustration but he hopes to make his first appearance in a Town shirt when the Blues travel to Cambridge on Saturday 23rd July.
"Obviously you want to be training with the boys straight away, that’s a main part of settling in, you get to form relationships with the players on the pitch and so on,” the one-time Aldershot Town loanee continued.
"But it’s been just as good getting to know everyone, I’m just looking forward to getting back training so I can do that.
"The injury has been really progressing since I came into the building. I’ve been running for the past 10 days now. We’ve got, hopefully, Cambridge in mind, but I’ll be back in full training next week.
"I’d like to think I’ll be 100 per cent certain I’ll be fit for Barnsley on the opening day, but you take every day as it comes with an injury and hopefully I’ll be fine for it.”
Right-sided Webster will be battling Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith for a regular starting berth, while skipper and regular right-back Luke Chambers is another central defensive option for manager Mick McCarthy, along with Paul Digby, who also signed this summer after his loan spell from Barnsley last season.
"There’s great competition for places at centre-half this year,” Webster said. "I’m just looking forward to getting back training and seeing what I can do.”
He added: "Mick McCarthy’s definitely somebody I can learn a great deal from and I’m really looking forward to working with him.”
Labelled a ball-playing centre-half, Webster says he has confidence when in possession: "I’ve always liked to think that I can bring the ball out from the back, that’s one of my traits. I’d like to show everyone what I can do.
"I’m confident in my own ability, you’ve got to be. If you’re not confident in your own ability then it’s going to be hard for somebody to trust you. You’ve got to be confident and show everyone what you can do.”
Webster played much of his early senior football as a full-back but has no doubt about his best position.
"I played right-back when I made my debut at 17 and for three years after that,” he added. "I don’t mind playing the odd game there but centre-half’s my best position. That’s the position I want to nail down.”
Photo: BBC Suffolk