Andre Dozzell has confirmed his intention to stay with Town next season when, barring a miracle, they will be playing in League One.
Such was the young midfielder’s impact upon making a scoring debut at Sheffield Wednesday almost three years ago that he was soon being linked with a host of Premier League clubs keen to monitor his progress.
But a cruciate knee injury sustained on the opening day of last season, in the 1-0 home win over Birmingham, sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign and it was not until October last year that he was able to make a comeback at first team level.
Dozzell, still only 19, said: "I don’t see why I shouldn’t be here next season. I need games and I need to keep playing. This has been a disappointing season for me personally because I’d have liked to have played more games.”
The teenager has been capped by England at every age group from U16 to U20, amassing 35 caps and scoring four goals at the various levels, but has only made six senior starts this term — five in the league and also in the FA Cup third round defeat at Accrington Stanley — and his other nine appearances have been from the bench.
He acknowledges that what he needs most is to play as many games as possible and enjoy a lengthy uninterrupted run, something he is not likely to be able to do until the new season gets under way.
Dozzell featured for over 70 minutes when he replaced the injured Jon Nolan in last week’s 2-0 home defeat by Hull and said: "That was good but I haven’t had many games so it’s hard to be 100 per cent at it.
"However, the more minutes I get the better and sharper I will become. I was happy with my second-half performance and hopefully I can build on that.
"It isn’t easy when you are thrown into a Championship game like that but at the end of the day you have to take your opportunities when they come along and hopefully I did that.
"My aim is always to do something special and catch the eye. I try to come on, play freely, play my game and hopefully everything takes care of itself. I know I’m good enough and I’ve just got to show it.
"A full 90 minutes would be great and think that has to be the next step. It would be a good feeling to get the whole 90 minutes and I feel that would progress me as well. It’s hard when you are coming in and out of the team but I guess I just have to get on with it, keep working hard and hope that I will get the run of games I believe I need.”
Dozzell echoed the sentiments of defender Toto Nsiala, who admitted after the home loss to Hull that as disappointing as the season has been he didn’t want it to end.
"It has been very frustrating but you can see the confidence and the way we are playing,” he added.
"It’s not like we have given up. If you look at the stats you can see we are having a lot of possession and corners as well, plus stuff cleared off the line, so that only adds to the frustration.
"What is it going to take to start winning games? I think it comes down to making sure we take the chances we create and being more clinical and ruthless in both boxes.
"If we have chances we’ve got to take them and in our own box we’ve got to defend better. There’s only a little bit missing and we just have to pull it all together.”
The header on his debut in the 1-1 draw at Hillsborough remains his only senior goal and that is an area where he is desperate to improve. "I think I can do more,” he agreed, "both in terms of assists and also scoring goals. It’s all about getting into the box more and we all need to try to chip in a bit more.
"This has been such a disappointing season to be honest but we’ve just got to keep working and keep going.
"Obviously, being an Ipswich lad makes it all the more disappointing. Growing up in the area I’ve only seen the club in the Championship and what makes it even worse is that Norwich are at the top of the league and heading for the Premier League.
"But we can’t bother about that, we just need to focus on ourselves and not worry about what other clubs are doing.
"Working with the gaffer, Paul Lambert, has been a good learning curve for me. He was a top midfielder in his day and I’ve learned quite a lot, even when I’ve not been playing.
"I’ve learned on the training pitch, things you can do both on and off the ball, and getting into the box, so it has been good.
"I understand why I haven’t played as many games as I’d have liked and that it’s all about working hard and taking my chance when it comes along. More goals, more assists and hopefully there will be more opportunities coming my way.”