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Lambert: Ndaba Has to Go Out and Play Men's Football - Ipswich Town News

Blues boss Paul Lambert says young centre-half Corrie Ndaba can now move on on loan, Town having secured the loan signing of Arsenal youngster Mark McGuinness earlier in the week.

Lambert has been impressed with former Republic of Ireland U21 call-up Ndaba, 20, this season.

"I think he's done great, I really do,” he said. "I think U23 football, he’s bypassed that now and he needs to get out there now and play men's football.

"I think that will bring him on because I think he's done really well since he's come back, but my challenge is that he had to play men's football. And hopefully, we can get him a club that fits him and vice versa.”

He says Ndaba, who has previously had short loan spells in non-league with Hemel Hempstead Town and Chelmsford City, has made significant strides this season but is behind McGuinness in his development, despite the Arsenal loanee being a year younger.

"Corrie from last year to this year is an incredible difference,” he said. "I thought he was totally drifting last season, I didn’t think he was focused on what he wanted to do.

"This year, he’s a different kid coming back, he’s been focused, he’s played really well. He did really well when he came on in the Bristol Rovers game, I thought he did well against Arsenal’s U21s and then he got his dead leg, which was a bad one.

"As I’ve said, Mark came into the conversation a couple of weeks before the Arsenal game and we knew we had a chance to look at him then and I just thought that game cemented what we thought, he was really, really good.

"I think the way the two of them are, Mark’s slightly ahead, just by the presence of him, the size of him. Corrie has to go and play men’s football. In the way Mark’s coming here, Corrie has to go and play men’s football as well.”

Meanwhile, Lambert says Idris El Mizouni’s return to Cambridge on loan will be good for the Tunisian international.

"He did well [in his first spell],” he said. "Again a young kid, small steps for him to learn. I'll be happy for him to get games and I'm sure he'll have to earn the right to play in Cambridge's side. But as I said before, there's not really such a thing as a bad loan.”

Lambert has also said he'd like to see Armando Dobra and Brett McGavin go out on loan to gain experience.

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