Boss Paul Hurst says new signing Janoi Donacien’s best position is right-back but gave a hint that he is considering giving the new signing from Accrington his Blues debut at the centre of the defence when the season gets under way against Blackburn at Portman Road on Saturday.
Town are still short of experienced centre-halves with moves for Shrewsbury’s Toto Nsiala and Blackpool’s Curtis Tilt both ongoing.
Luke Woolfenden, 19, partnered Luke Chambers during pre-season but Hurst may feel he needs a more senior player alongside his skipper at the weekend and says Donacien has trained in the role before moving to the position he views as his best.
"We had the first look at 11 v 11 on our training pitch, he had a little role at centre-half and then he played right-back,” Hurst said.
"I think overall I think for me his best position is right-back, but clearly he’s a player that there are lots of options for us to add to the squad.
"But I’ve got to be careful about asking someone who is moving up [from the lower leagues] and not putting too much on him.
"I want him to try and focus on one area but if the need comes then it's nice to have that option and he’ll be confident in whatever role is asked of him and give it his best.”
Donacien, who is 24, and Hurst’s other Town signings are all relatively young but the Blues boss believes the more experienced players already in the squad will have in important part to play during the season ahead.
"They’re crucial,” he said. "I think any time I’m asked this sort of question I go back to the Alan Hansen comment about Manchester United, that you don’t win anything with kids.
"At the time, I think it was clearly it was a very good crop of young players coming through but if you looked it were also matched up with some very experienced, really good pros, so that combination was clearly a winning one.
"And I think we need those experienced heads whether it’s in the team, whether it's in the dressing room or on the training pitch.
"I’m not going to say they’ll play just because they’re experienced, but I’m not trying to create a team where no one is allowed to be over 25 or 24 or whatever.
"It’s just a case I think with our recruitment there are opportunities there and a lot of the players are younger, but I won’t rule anyone out just because of age, it’s just whatever fits for us.
Meanwhile, Hurst says he broadly welcomes the introduction of yellow and red cards for transgressing managers this season, although doesn’t anticipate being shown too many himself.
"I’ll be disappointed if I get too involved in that, in truth,” he added. "I’ll be interested to see how the system works.
"It’s something myself and a couple of other managers have spoken about. We’ve spoken about other managers that we feel get away with a lot, that haven’t been pulled up on things and it makes you question how you conduct yourself.
"I’ve had a couple of conversations with referees over the years saying, ‘Do I have to be rude, do I have to jump up and down like an idiot to get the same sort of treatment for my team?’. And I don’t want to do that.
"So this system should make that not be the case, so I’m really interested to see how it works and, like I said, I’d like to see how many yellow and red cards I get.”