Town boss Kieran McKenna says Janoi Donacien is a very important player for the Blues, the right-sided centre-half having picked up two assists during last week’s 3-0 home victory over MK Dons while helping the defence to two clean sheets in their last two matches.
Donacien has had something of a roller-coaster Portman Road career since signing from Accrington Stanley during Paul Hurst’s short-lived tenure in the summer of 2018, initially on loan with Town’s next manager Paul Lambert attempting to cancel the £750,000 deal prior to it becoming permanent once the St Lucia-born defender’s permanent leave to remain was confirmed but without success, Stanley have dug their heels in.
The 28-year-old has been in the side, out of the side and twice sent out on loan, but under Paul Cook and then McKenna has been a key member of the team and in November signed a new contract which ties him to Town until the summer of 2023 with the club having an option for a further season.
"He’s very important for us,” said McKenna, who utilises Donacien in an attacking central defensive role. "As I’ve said before, he’s a really good character around the place and I really enjoy having him in the building. He’s really popular, a really good person, really good energy and a positive guy, but very tough with it.
"Physically he puts himself out there every week. He plays through knocks and niggles and makes himself available for the team.
"I think as a footballer he brings really good attributes to that position. Again, he’s got a little bit of a hybrid and unique position and he brings to it the qualities of a full-back and an attacking full-back at times.
"But he also, at times, has to bring the solidity and presence of a central defender, so he brings a really good skillset to that position and he’s really found his role well there for us and continues to execute his role well.
"I think he can keep improving, to be honest. I don’t think he’s at his full capacity, I think he’s improved in this calendar year and I think he’s still got good scope for further improvement, and if he continues to show a good attitude, I’m sure he can continue to do that.”
McKenna was delighted to see Donacien, who like the Northern Irishman was a youth player with Tottenham before moving on to Aston Villa’s academy, involved in goals agains the Dons last week.
"Absolutely. We speak a lot and we have spoken a lot more this year about how to get extra attacking players higher up the pitch, who’s going to be our sixth and seventh man attacking and Janoi is certainly one of them who is very adept at breaking forward from deep,” he said.
"I think technically, he’s improving and growing in confidence and can still improve further.
"He certainly has the athleticism to get up and down the pitch and technically he’s growing and finding more belief in himself now, and I think if he keeps working, then there is more to come.”
McKenna says he was a fan of the Luton-raised defender prior to taking over at Town.
"I did like him from afar, I have to say,” he continued. "You could certainly see the athletic attributes and energy that he could bring to a team, even watching on video.
"I think he's definitely found a role in the team that really suits him and he's started to find belief to what he can bring to the team from an attacking point of view.
"He’s been working very hard on it behind the scenes and he continues to improve and show more from a technical level and as an attacking threat.
"I think anyone can say he's developing and he's improving all the time, and it's one of our big ethoses here. It doesn't matter whether you're 20, 28, or whatever Janoi is, or the age of Sone Aluko or Richard Keogh, you can always improve as a footballer.
"If you've got the right mentality and you're willing to learn, you continue to improve right to the very, very end of your career. And Janoi is a classic example of that, and we still think he's got room to improve even further.”