Blues loanee Tyreece John-Jules says he enjoyed every minute of his loan spell at Portman Road.
John-Jules, 22, spent the season on loan with Town from Arsenal making 10 starts and 11 sub appearances, scoring three times.
However, the forward’s final appearance of the campaign was at Charlton in October with a hamstring injury requiring surgery, then a quad problem curtailing his season just as the former England U21 international was closing in on a return in March.
"I’ve enjoyed every minute of Ipswich, to be fair,” John-Jules told The Beautiful Game Podcast just ahead of the Exeter match which saw the Blues confirm promotion back to the Championship.
"As soon as I went to Ipswich, the love and support I got was great. The manager [Kieran McKenna], I have nothing but good things to say about him and I hope he has the same to say about me.
"I felt the love as soon as I went there. The manager showed nothing but faith in me on the pitch and off the pitch he’s such a nice guy, you can talk to him about anything. All the staff are like that and the fans are great as well, throughout the whole season.
"And my teammates are doing so well, I’m so happy to be watching them and being a part of the team. I’ve really enjoyed every minute of it.”
John-Jules, who joined his teammates for the post-match celebrations following the Exeter game despite having been back at Arsenal undergoing rehab, has a year left on his Gunners contract.
Having spent time on loan at Lincoln, Doncaster, Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday before joining the Blues, he’s now looking for more stability.
"I just want to settle somewhere, whether that’s signing a new contract with Arsenal or going somewhere else on a permanent,” he said.
"I think it’s time to settle down and just focus and chill instead of hopping from loan to loan. It’s difficult and it’s draining travelling to all these places.
"Settling and focusing on one team would be ideal, whether that’s Arsenal or somewhere else.”
Speaking in February, McKenna said John-Jules had been missed while undergoing the rehab from his initial injury.
"I think anyone would miss him at this level,” he said. "I think he’s such a good player, has qualities that are hard to find, so any team would miss him. We’ve certainly missed him.
"The players have really missed him around the group, to be honest, which was maybe more of a surprise because when you have a player coming in from a big club, who has had four or five loan moves you never know how they’re going to settle into the group and how much they will feel at home and that you can make them feel at home.
"But I think he was incredibly settled here and was a really, really popular part of the group from the first week he was here.
"I think the players have really missed having him around, he’s a positive and likeable person and they’re looking forward to having him in the building.”