Town boss Mick McCarthy says the newly re-signed Luke Varney’s versatility will be invaluable in the coming months.
The 33-year-old, who travelled to Brentford on Saturday but wasn’t included in the 18 having signed a contract until January, is now in his third spell at the club, having initially joined on loan from Blackburn at the end of 2014/15, before signing a short-term deal last season after recovering from the serious achilles injury he sustained in the play-off semi-final against Norwich.
"His versatility will be invaluable,” said McCarthy, who confirmed that Varney is in his squad for this evening’s visit to Wolves.
"He can play centre forward and he can play in a three and he can play in a four out wide, he’s done it before. He played wide right against Watford when we had our 1-0 win in the season we finished sixth, and he’s happy to do it.”
He added: "I admire and respect the way he goes about his business. He’s made the best of himself, Luke, and had a good career.
"And he still does it now. He’s 33, but I wasn’t worried about that because he’s as fit as a flea.
"He had his injuries while he was here, he snapped his achilles and rightly we helped to get him fit and he jumped at the chance to come back. It was lovely and I’m glad to have him in the squad.”
McCarthy, who says Varney was speaking to other clubs before his return to Portman Road, was someone he was reluctant to release at the end of last season but circumstances changed with Brett Pitman out with a thigh problem until at least Sunday and David McGoldrick sidelined with an ankle injury for around 10 weeks.
"I didn’t really want to let him go,” McCarthy admitted. "I’d have been happy to keep him but that meant we’d have five strikers and that’s never going to fit, that’s never going to work, unless we’re playing 4-3-3 and I’m playing three of them up front.
"He wanted to play, I wasn’t going to guarantee him a place, I’m not guaranteeing him a place now, but it’s nice that he enjoyed it that much that he wanted to come back.”