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Walters Set to Make Second Blues Debut Against Team Who Tried to Sign Him - Ipswich Town News

Jon Walters will today be hoping to make his second Ipswich debut in the East Anglian derby against Norwich, the team who wanted to sign him just over three years ago.

Yes, it’s true. The player who clocked up 146 appearances and scored 32 goals during three and a half years at Portman Road the first time round, and who is back on loan from Burnley until January, might have been turning out at the weekend for the Canaries.

Rewind to August 2015 and Norwich launched a £1.5 million bid for Walters at a time when he had just entered the final year of his contract at Stoke and there was a question mark as to whether manager Mark Hughes felt he had a future at the Britannia Stadium.

As things turned out, a rejuvenated Walters played his way back into favour with Hughes, to the extent that he signed a brand new deal and ended up staying with Stoke for a further two years until he switched to Burnley in a £3 million deal last summer.

Walters, who will be 35 later this month, said: "To be honest it never got to the stage where I had a choice to make.

"If Stoke had accepted the offer it would have been different but they turned it down and that was that. There was never really anything to it as far as I was concerned.

"Funnily enough we played at Carrow Road around the time they made their offer but I wasn’t in the side.

"I had travelled but I kept out of the way and watched the game from a box.

"I didn’t know how it was going to pan out and because they rejected the offer it was never down to me and I had no decision to make.”

So it will be appearance number 147 for snooker fan Walters if he plays any part in today’s derby and he sees it as a big break rejoining the Blues when he is out of favour at Turf Moor and desperate to get his career going again.

There’s another reason Walters wants to return to action, as he explained. "I have three kids, girls aged 13 and 10, and a boy who is seven,” he said.

"I have hardly played any football in the last year and I want to remind them what their dad does. I’ve played a few games for Ireland but I want them to see me playing more regularly than that.

"It’s quite a distance from where I live to Ipswich but it’s all part and parcel of being a footballer.

"I’m on loan until January but they’re at school and won’t be moving down. But they’ll be here when possible and they will come down for weekends to see the home games.

"My oldest girl remembers going to school in Bealings but the others are too young.

"I’ve always followed Ipswich’s fortunes since I left. Mick (McCarthy) was here for the majority of the time and it’s a club that in my eyes should be up there challenging.

"It’s got everything it needs and I never stop referring back to Ipswich when I talk about my career to other players.

"The facilities, the people — everything about it is geared up to challenging to be in the Premier League. The aim is to get back to that point.

"I like to think I’m coming back as a better player. Having played so many games in the Premier League, and internationally as well, I’ve gained a lot of experience.

"Yes, I’m 34 and my birthday’s coming up soon, but I’m certain I still have a few years left in me.”

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