Rising star Tristan Nydam wants to follow up his elevation to the Town first team by winning a place in the England squad for this summer’s UEFA U19 European Championship to be hosted by Finland in July.
Nydam would like nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of his friend and colleague, Andre Dozzell, who was in the England squad that won last year’s tournament in Georgia and but for injury would probably be helping to defend the title.
England boss Paul Simpson, a one-time Town trialist before he launched his career at Manchester City, was at the City Ground last weekend to check on Nydam in Town’s narrow 2-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest.
Nydam, 18, said: "I went to Qatar in March last year for my England U18 debut and then I made my debut for the U19 side in November.
"I was called up quite a few times this season but I had to withdraw on a couple of occasions because of injury.
"But they have the Euros in the summer and hopefully I can stay in the team over the last three games and get a call-up.
"I didn’t know Paul was at Forest last week because I haven’t spoken to him. But I believe I’m capable of getting a place in the U19 squad.
"I’ve played a fair bit of senior football this season and I don’t see any reason why I can’t get in.
"I’m sure Andre would have been in it this season but for his injury. I know how happy he was to be in it last year when they won it and if I do get called up I’ll be looking to help England retain the title.”
Nydam has clocked up 17 first team appearances — 11 of them starts — so far this season but believes he is still coming to terms with the physical demands of Championship football.
He added: "It has been tough and I think I’ve only completed the entire 90 minutes once in the Championship. I think I need to get more durable and I think with more experience as I get older I will get there.”
Fulham youngster Ryan Sessegnon, not 18 until next month and valued by his club at £40 million, has started 42 league games and appeared as a substitute in one other this season, and is so highly rated that he is considered a candidate for Gareth Southgate’s senior squad for the World Cup finals in Russia.
Nydam said: "I would say it’s fairly realistic to expect young players to play a good number of games in a Championship season but I don’t see me being able to play as often as Ryan has.
"His record is incredible and I don’t know how he has done it. I don’t think I’ll be able to play 46 games but that’s just me and the way I feel at the moment.
"I will always be grateful to Mick McCarthy for giving me my big chance at first team level. He put his trust in me and I couldn’t be more grateful to him and also TC.
"I’m now looking to get my first goal. I’ve had a few chances and there was one last week at Nottingham Forest when it was blocked. I was gutted at that to be fair.
"I’m hoping I can get my first goal for the club before the end of the season but if not I’ll just keep trying when the new season gets under way.”
By that time, of course, Town will be under new management, although Nydam insists he has not given too much thought to who will fill the shoes vacated by McCarthy last week.
He said: "I think it’s more the senior lads who discuss it — I keep myself away from that. We just need to concentrate on the final three games through to the end of the season and then we can focus on working with the new gaffer when we return for pre-season training.”
Nydam is not averse to leaving Town temporarily in order to gain further experience on loan elsewhere. He admitted: "First and foremost, I want to get into the Ipswich team. I’ll be aiming to impress the new gaffer in pre-season and hopefully get into the team early on.
"But if not and the gaffer wants me to go out on loan, I’d be open to that, 100 per cent. It’s just about playing men’s football, maturing as a player and knowing what I’m good at and what I still need to improve upon.
"I speak to Flynn [Downes] quite a bit and he’s enjoying his time on loan at Luton. He’s getting game time in men’s football and I think he’ll come back to Ipswich a much better player for the experience he’s picking up there.”
Meanwhile, Nydam looks forward to him and young colleagues Downes and Dozzell appearing together in the Town midfield, adding: "Hopefully that will happen at some point. Andre had a major setback with his injury in the first game of the season and Flynn has been out on loan.
"But next season, or maybe the year after, it would be great if we were all first team players.
"In fact, I see no reason why more young players can’t come through as well. Ben Morris and Ben Folami have also been called up for their debuts this season.
"We’ve all pushed on and we push each other all the time, so it would be something for us all to be in the first team at the same time.”
Nydam was asked if he had a football hero as he was growing up and he answered: "Steven Gerrard.”
When it was pointed out that speculative reports were linking the former Liverpool and England skipper with the Portman Road managerial vacancy he added: "We’ll have to wait and see about that.”