Luke Woolfenden has revealed how he and team-mate Flynn Downes deal with the speculation linking them with moves to the Premier League — they just laugh it off!
Central defender Woolfenden and midfielder Downes, both 21, have been watched regularly this season by scouts representing top-flight clubs and Town supporters will breathe a sigh of relief if the January transfer window closes and the pair are still at Portman Road.
Former East Bergholt High School pupil Woolfenden even had a £10 million price tag slapped on him last week by manager Paul Lambert and only time will tell whether or not that valuation will discourage long-term admirers Sheffield United from testing the water right now. Championship QPR are also among the clubs to have been keeping tabs.
Downes recently stated that he saw himself remaining with Town at least until the summer and Woolfenden will not be shedding any tears if he stays on board too, although he did have a chuckle about Lambert’s valuation, stating with a grin: "Is that all?”
He added: "It’s obviously nice to be linked with big clubs but in my eyes I’m already with a big club, it’s just that we’re in League One and the Premier League is where we should be.
"There’s obviously been speculation about Flynn as well and we just have a laugh about it and wind each other up. I’ll say to him ‘When are you going to p*ss off to West Ham?’ because they are his team. Judgey gives him a bit of stick as well and is always telling him ‘I’ve had enough of you’.
"But neither of us is in any hurry to leave here. It’s just banter — we don’t look too deeply into it and we know the speculation is part and parcel of being a footballer. We usually have a laugh about it and don’t take it seriously.
"I don’t really know anything about a transfer and I don’t get involved in all that stuff. That’s just the way I am. I’m not interested in talking about what might happen until something actually does and, like the gaffer said, there’s been no bid.
"I’m not going to let my head get turned by transfer talk because if I did it would almost certainly affect my game and that’s the last thing I want to happen. The way I see it, I think I’ll be here for the rest of the season. It’s not in my head to be leaving and it’s the same for Flynn.
"But we’re still very ambitious and I want to play at the very highest level that I can. Of course I want to play in the Premier League but that doesn’t mean I want to leave right now. If I could get there with Ipswich it would be massive for me.
"Getting promoted this season would be massive as well. I’m an Ipswich boy and they are my team so to help get the club back into the Championship would mean everything to me. Ipswich has always been my team. My dad’s from Manchester and I like United too, because of his influence, but my team is Ipswich.”
Town boss Lambert also revealed last week that he had found it necessary to pull Woolfenden to one side during pre-season training in Germany last summer and tell him straight that he expected more from him.
Woolfenden admitted: "It was probably the kick up the backside that I needed at the time. I was out there and I wasn’t training well, so I did need that chat. He made me realise how big a season this could be for me and it did help.
"I’d had a good season at Swindon but I don’t think it had sunk in — at least not in pre-season at that time — that it could be another good season with Ipswich.
"After that chat it did and I was glad he spoke to me because he could just have pushed me to one side and got another centre-half in.”