Town boss Mick McCarthy says Mauritius international midfielder Kevin Bru has no chance of getting back into his plans for the season ahead with young trio Andre Dozzell, Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam ahead of him in the pecking order going into tomorrow’s opener against Birmingham at Portman Road.
As revealed by TWTD, Bru, 28, was told he could find a new club back in May and more recently wasn’t handed a squad number for 2017/18.
Despite the likes of Tom Adeyemi, Emyr Huws, Teddy Bishop and Luke Hyam all missing the first match through illness or injury, McCarthy dismissed suggestions that he was short of central options.
"I'm not, I’ve got Dozzell, I’ve got Flynn Downes, I’ve got Tristan Nydam, I’ve got Skusey,” he insisted.
"Kevin’s available and he’s looking to move, I’ll be looking to play the kids if I need to play them.
No chance that Bru, who has another year left on his Town contract, could work his way back into his plans? "Not when Tom Adeyemi and Luke Hyam and Huwsy come back, no.
"We’ve pretty much got a real cluster of midfield players there and, as I’ve said before, there's Flynn and Dozzer, Tristan Nydam’s been great as well.
"If we’re going to progress, then I’ve got to use them and not just go back to the same old, same old.”
Meanwhile, the Blues boss believes Middlesbrough have got themselves a bargain having signed striker Ashley Fletcher from West Ham for £7 million.
McCarthy confirmed that Fletcher, 21, was a player he tried to sign on loan last summer and that he was again on his radar prior to his switch to Boro.
"I was going to get him on loan, what a chump, eh?” the Town manager laughed. "The Friday before he went I was talking about having him on loan, what a big custard pie I got. The agent must have thought, ‘Do me a favour!’.
"But he patronised me and we spoke about it, or the person who was purporting to represent him at the time did anyway. And then the following day I get a message that he’s going there for £7 million. God loves a trier apparently.
"Ashley Fletcher was never in our [price bracket as a permanent siging], no not a chance.
"From his time at Barnsley and leaving Manchester United, he was taken on compensation, he was never, ever going to be in our price range.
"He’s a very good player and I think Middlesbrough have got a bargain. I think he’ll turn out to be a bargain with the money that they cost at the moment.”