Town boss Kieran McKenna says conversations regarding loan pair George Hirst and Tyreece John-Jules will take place in the weeks to come.
Hirst, 24, has been a great success since joining the Blues on loan from Leicester in January, scoring seven times in 15 starts and seven sub appearances.
John-Jules, 22, made 10 starts and 11 sub appearances, scoring three times, before suffering a hamstring injury in October and then, just as he was about to make his comeback, a quadricep problem ended his campaign prematurely, however, the Arsenal youngster was back at the club to join his teammates on the pitch to celebrate promotion on Saturday.
Asked whether he’s keen to keep the duo, McKenna said: "I think it’s never right to speak about permanent signings of loan players because those clubs have been good enough to show their belief in us over the season to take their players and to see this as a good place for their players to play.
"So I don’t think it’s ever right to speculate on whether any of those could or would be made permanent.
"For sure, the players we’ve had on loan, if that’s Tyreece and George, have had a really good impact, both of them here we like.
"I’m keen on not taking loans for the sake of it, we don’t want to take many loans. We went into the season wanting to have the large, large majority of the squad on permanent contracts and only take loans if we thought the fit was really, really good and they could have a big impact, and that was the case with those two players.
"Those conversations will be for the next few weeks as we plan for the squad for next year, but they’re not conversations which have been had yet.”
Hirst has said he’s loved his time at Town but has flat-batted questions on making his move permanent: "For me, what will be will be on that front and those conversations are to be had in the summer.”
The one-time Sheffield Wednesday trainee signed a new deal with the Foxes which runs to the summer of 2025 prior to joining Blackburn on loan last summer.
John-Jules is understood to be keen on extending his time at Portman Road.
McKenna says the situation is similar with the club’s out-of-contract players, Massimo Luongo, Kane Vincent-Young, Sone Aluko, Richard Keogh and Joel Coleman. Town have already taken up an option in Janoi Donacien’s deal with a similar clause in Vincent-Young’s contract.
"There’s been no definite conversations,” he said. "Of course you speak to people in private right through the season to encourage them and let them know how we feel about them and where they are in the squad.
"But there’s been no definite conversations about contracts and that won’t take place until after the game on Sunday, which I think is only right.”
McKenna admits his mind has already turned towards his plans for next season.
"Yes, it has,” he said. "I said no last week, but this week it has. We’ve started to discuss things. We’ve had a couple more meetings this week and we will do over the weekend and next week as well.
"That’s something really to look forward to and put those thoughts right to the back of our minds over the last few weeks with the schedule being so relentless.
"But once we got over last weekend, naturally your mind starts to move towards next season and the exciting challenges ahead and what we’re going to have to do improve.”"