New loanee Tom Lawrence has revealed he plumped for Town ahead of several of their Championship rivals who were also keen to sign him from parent club Leicester.
The 22-year-old Welsh international is hoping to make his debut at Reading in tomorrow’s live-on-Sky clash, with the Royals among the clubs who were disappointed to miss out on his services.
Lawrence, who will wear the Town number 27 shirt, said: "I had a brief conversation with my agent and he said there were a few Championship clubs who wanted to sign me on loan.
"But as soon as I heard of Ipswich’s interest I wanted to come here. They just missed out on the play-offs last season and hopefully we can go a step further this year.
"I felt this was by far the best option for me. If I’d stayed at Leicester the reality is that I wouldn’t play many games but now that I’m here I am looking to play regularly in as many games as I can.”
Lawrence had two loan moves, to Carlisle and Yeovil, while on the books at Old Trafford and since his move to Leicester in 2014 he has had temporary spells with second tier clubs Rotherham, Blackburn and Reading.
He added: "I had a good loan spell at Yeovil — I remember having a decent game against Ipswich — that went well. It was my first loan in the Championship and it sort of put me on the map I suppose. I enjoyed my time there.
"I think the loan moves have helped me really well. When you are young it makes sense to go out on loan and play games and I feel my game has improved as a result of doing that. Hopefully that will carry on now that I’m at Ipswich.
"It helps you to mature as a person, not just as a footballer. You are living away from home and it’s not something that I mind doing. In football you have to get used to moving around a fair bit.”
Wrexham-born Lawrence, who was with Everton’s academy before accepting the offer to join boyhood favourites United when he was eight, agreed that Leicester’s shock Premier League title triumph last season probably hindered his chances of progressing at the King Power Stadium.
He said: "When you win the Premier League you automatically look elsewhere and they are buying players for stupid amounts of money.
"They look abroad quite a lot but I haven’t given up hope of getting my chance, hopefully next season or whenever the time comes.
"New players arriving in the summer wasn’t too hard to take. You expect that when a club has just won the league because they want to strengthen their squad.
"You just have to take it on the chin and take the opportunity to go out on loan in order to play regularly and improve yourself. I’m coming here to show everyone what I can do.”