In the wake of Ipswich Town’s 2-1 home win against Sunderland George Edmundson has dismissed talk of leaving Portman Road in the January transfer window, stating his love for the Suffolk club.
The 26-year-old central defender has been linked with a move to Sky Bet League One leaders Portsmouth, having only featured in four Championship games this term due to the displays of Cameron Burgess, Luke Woolfenden, and more recently, Axel Tuanzebe, while a number of other clubs are understood to be keeping a watching brief.
But with Burgess currently away with Australia at the AFC Asian Cup, he is enjoying a run in Kieran McKenna’s side, and the former Glasgow Rangers player does not see why he would leave the Championship high-fliers, while Town are unlikely to be minded to allow him to leave in any case.
On the speculation of interest from Portsmouth, he said: "Someone's just doing a bit of paper talk, to be honest.
"Look, I love it here, I love the manager, the lads and I obviously think there is only one direction the club is going and I know every club says that but I think Ipswich really, really mean it. I feel like it’s the place to be at the minute so I don’t get why you’d leave.”
Quizzed on how he’s adapted to having a more regular run in the team, having started the last three matches in all competitions since the 0-0 league draw at Stoke City on New Year’s Day, he said: "I’ve just got to make sure I do things right.
"I’ve obviously been waiting for a run of games and I’ve got it so I’ve just got to make sure I put in the performances to stay in the team. Also on the flip side do my recovery properly, get to the pool do my ice baths and all the boring stuff you have to do as footballers but obviously I’ve been waiting for this and now I’ve got to maintain my performances, stay in it and do the other side as well.”
After ending a run of five league games without a win with the 2-1 home victory against Sunderland, thanks to goals from Kayden Jackson and Conor Chaplin, he said: "It’s massive. I don’t think it was a ‘must-win’ as such but obviously you’re never going to turn down three points so I think it was a big win, I think we deserved the win and I thought it was a really good team performance.
"When I say team I don’t just mean the starting XI, I thought the subs who came on were brilliant, to be honest.”
On whether there had ever been any doubt creeping in of where they deserved to be in the table amid the winless run, he said: "No chance. I think looking from the Watford game [the last league win] to now, those games we’ve had in between we haven’t lost. We’ve had a few draws and we’ll look back at them and think they’re games we should have won and on another day I think we do win.
"We definitely haven’t looked back at them and thought ‘oh we were terrible there or rubbish’.
"You can see the way we play, the identity, we were still getting chances, we weren’t really taking them and there were a few errors at the back.
"But I thought our identity was still there and you could still see the way we were playing it was just a matter of time that you’re going to get three points.”
Having seen off a team that had occupied a top-six spot heading into the game and ended up in the play-offs last season, he said: "They are a good team. I know the manager [Michael Beale], I think he’s a great manager and a good tactician as well.
"So I knew coming into it it was going to be a good game of football and the people who’ve come to the game would’ve seen that.
"I thought we defended well, attacked well and had the better chances so I thought all round it was a good night.”
On Jackson, given the role of leading the line in George Hirst’s injury absence, deserving his goal for his work-rate, he said: "He did, he’s a credit to himself really.
"He’s obviously not been in the team as much as Hirsty’s been doing brilliant and he’s not moaned or sulked, he’s waited for his chance and got on with doing the extras; the running you have to do after games and training.
"He’s just carried on with it, done it without moaning and obviously tonight he’s got his goal and I thought he deserved it. He was terrific tonight.”
Put to him that Chaplin has been weighing-in with set-piece goals but not too many headers, he quipped: "He’s only about four foot, isn’t he! But no, he’s probably one of the best finishers at the club or in the league, Conor.
"Whether it’s [with his] head, shinns, knees, feet, whatever it is, he’s putting it in the back of the net, so it’s expected from him.”
Giving his thoughts on the trip to leaders Leicester City at the King Power Stadium a week on Monday, he said: "It’s going to be a good game, everyone knows they’re probably favourites for the league.
"They’ve got a great team, great individuals and they’re the kind of games you want to be playing in as a footballer.
"You don’t want to be playing in the smaller games or small stadiums, you want to play in the big games, big stadiums so that’s the challenge we’ll relish and hopefully we can get three points.”
Asked what he had made of new signings Jeremy Sarmiento and Lewis Travis, he replied: "Brilliant, I think they’re obviously still trying to get used to the way we play, they’ve only been with us a week or two.
"Obviously there is a bit of adapting with the way we play, the amount we run, all those little things, but I think you can see tonight they’ve taken to it like a duck to water. I thought they were brilliant.
"Trav’s come in and had to take on the role of skip [Sam Morsy] which are big boots to fill and I thought he filled them.
"And then Jeremy I thought was excellent when he came on. He just gave us energy, life, smashing into tackles, which I didn’t expect from a number 10 and they’re the things we want to see and I thought he was brilliant.”
Asked for his view on the penalty appeal late on involving Omari Hutchinson, he said: "I was at the other end obviously so I couldn’t really see, but we don’t really seem to get them at the minute.
"We’ve had a few of them this season but I thought the ref was fine tonight. I thought he did his job, I’ve had worse, I’ve had better but I obviously couldn’t really see the pen so it’s one of them; some get given and some don’t.”