New Town recruit Dominic Iorfa is relishing the challenge on offer courtesy of his season-long loan move from Wolves.
The 22-year-old defender, who can perform at right-back or in a central defensive role, hopes to have done enough to earn a place in manager Mick McCarthy’s starting line-up on Saturday week against Birmingham in the opening fixture of the new campaign.
Southend-born Iorfa is no rookie, having already clocked up a century of appearances in all competitions for his parent club, as well as seven on loan at Shrewsbury in the second half of the 2013/14 season. Plus, he has been capped for England at U18, U20 and U21 levels.
Iorfa said: "The lads have welcomed me on board. I knew Mick and TC [Terry Connor] from my time at Wolves and they have helped me to settle in as well. All the lads have been good to me and the football’s been good as well, so I’m enjoying it so far.
"Hopefully I’m going to have a successful season here at Ipswich, finishing at least in the play-offs and pushing for promotion.
"I know Ipswich didn’t have the best of times last season but the two years prior to that were really good and when I spoke to the gaffer he made it clear he wants to get back to that level again.
"When I signed for Wolves Mick was the first team manager. When I was in the youth team it was similar to how it works here, with the young lads joining the senior players in training from time to time, and he watched a lot of our games so there was feedback from that every now and again. I spoke to him a few times.”
Iorfa knows he may have to be patient before he can establish himself in McCarthy’s side, with Jordan Spence having extended his stay at Portman Road by another two years and skipper Luke Chambers no stranger to the right-back berth, even if he is expected to feature as a central defender in the coming months.
He added: "That’s how it is at any club. I think the competition is good for everyone and we can all push each other. I’ll be ready but I’m hoping to do well enough in training and in the pre-season games to start the first game of the season. If not I’ll be ready and pushing, whether it’s Jordan or Luke that plays.
Asked if he had expected to be spending the forthcoming season elsewhere, Iorfa replied: "I did, to be fair, because last season didn’t end how I wanted it to. I’ve had extended time off with international duty and Wolves have signed a lot of new players.
"It’s like a new regime there so I knew I might have to go somewhere else to focus and play some football. Luckily, Mick has given me this opportunity and I’m grateful to him for that.”
Iorfa was part of the England U21 side eliminated by Germany at the semi-final stage of the European Championship in Poland when a penalty shoot-out followed a 2-2 draw.
He took his U21 cap tally to 13 and said: "Everyone was gutted really but I think it was a good achievement to reach the semi-finals. Everyone was happy with that but I think the fact that we went out on penalties was heartbreaking.
"It was a great experience to play in a competition like that against some very good teams, including Germany, and the whole experience is something I will keep with me for my entire life.”
The young defender shares the same name as his father, a former Nigerian international who represented QPR, Peterborough and Southend in this country but who also spent time in Scotland, Ireland and Belgium throughout a long playing career.
Iorfa Junior added: "My father gets along to games when he can. He is one of the reasons I am playing football — I’ve been looking up to him since he was a player and he has inspired me. I take a lot of advice from him and there’s the feedback too.
"He was a striker and I’ve seen clips of him because when he was playing it was a bit before my time. All I know is that he was a pacy striker. He played for Peterborough so when I go there people talk to me about him. They know more about him than I do.
"This move has worked out well for me because my family are based in Southend. They are happy because I can go and see them more often. They will be here for every home game too.”