Former Town defender Tommy Smith has revealed he has been back training at Playford Road this week, however not with a view to rejoining the Blues.
Smith, 29, has just completed his second season with MLS side the Colorado Rapids and is currently back in Suffolk visiting family and friends.
And with international fixtures with New Zealand coming up later this month, Smith has returned to the Blues’ training ground to get himself in shape.
"We’ve got games against Mick [McCarthy]’s Ireland and Lithuania, friendlies, so I’m looking forward to getting back into that because there haven’t been games for a long while now,” Smith told this lunchtime’s Life’s a Pitch on BBC Radio Suffolk.
"That’s the reason I’ve been training with the U23s, just ticking over ready for these international games.
"Gerard Nash and Chris Hogg down there, they’ve been kind enough to let me come in and obviously I can impart some of my experience on to the youngsters coming through the club at the moment.”
Smith, who spoke at length about his time at Portman Road over the course of the show, says he’d love to come back to Town one day but his immediate future lies at Colorado, who he joined from the Blues in January 2018.
"Of course, everybody knows the love I’ve got for the club and hopefully it can be a reality in some sort of capacity,” he added.
"At some stage it would be great to come and play for Ipswich Town, whether or not that’s possible, who knows?
"Contract negotiations are underway with Colorado and it looks likely that that will be get done, which is great for me personally.
"But at some stage myself and my wife are looking to come back to England to settle. Whether that’s at the end of this next contract or another time, who knows?”
Smith says the season with the Rapids started slowly but in the end they came close to a successful conclusion.
"It was up and down,” he reflected. "We started really poorly, we didn’t win for the first 11 games but in the second half of the season we really kicked on and were in with a shout of making the play-offs on the last day of the season but had to rely on other results going our way and it didn’t happen for us.
"I’ve been there two seasons now, I’m really enjoying it. The lifestyle’s fantastic. The level of the league’s improving year on year, more and more players are going there in their prime rather than using it as a retirement home.
"It’s great to be a part of and hopefully I can stay there for a couple more years.”