Town boss Kieran McKenna says centre-half Dara O’Shea has been really important to the Blues this season and believes the Irish international will continue to improve.
O’Shea, 26, signed from Burnley for an initial £12 million in the summer, has been one of Town’s outstanding performers this season and has captained the side when regular skipper Sam Morsy hasn’t been in the XI.
"To be honest, he's been what we hoped he would be,” McKenna said. "He's been really important for us. He's a leader and probably belies his age because he's got a lot of experience, but he's pretty young for a centre-half.
"He's come into a new building, a new club with a lot of different challenges in terms of coming into a team that has had success and then of coming to a league where it's going to be a challenge, and he's really taking it on.
"He's shown great leadership and that's grown as the season's gone on. He's shown really the character that he is and he's gone from strength to threat in terms of how comfortable he feels as one of the leaders in the group.
"And he's had a strong season on the pitch, no doubt about that, for me. I think he's been consistently at a good level and I think he's improving in different aspects of his game.
"He's had the challenge as well that he's had the switch between right centre-back and right back or middle centre-back and right centre-back because of injuries to other positions.
"With the qualities that we've had, we've had to use him in different ways. He's played a decent chunk of the season with a small fracture in his back that is now thankfully in a really good place and he's fine.
"So I think on and off the pitch he's having a strong season, but I think he's still improving and for a centre-half, he's still young in years, and I think he'll get better in the years to come.”
Asked whether his previous experience of relegation battles with the Clarets last season and previously at West Brom have been an asset, McKenna reflected: "I think more the fact that he’s played in the league. He’s come into the season for us I would have thought as the player with the most Premier League appearances.
"In terms of the lads who are here on permanent contracts, Dara I would be pretty certain is our most experienced Premier League player, and recent experience as well, he’s played in the Premier League for the last few seasons.
"I think that’s been the most valuable experience that he’s had. I think his character and his nature is always going to be beneficial in times of struggle and times of challenge because he’s a resilient person, he’s a fighter and he’s a tough character.
"I’ve not had too many conversations with him about his experiences with Burnley or West Brom, some conversations across the year but I think more so his experiences in the league and his character have probably really helped him in the situation and helped us.”
Town’s now all-but-certain relegation to the Championship would be O’Shea’s third of his career, having been demoted with the Baggies in 2020/21 and Burnley last season, but McKenna, speaking ahead of Saturday’s game against Wolves, doesn’t believe this would be damaging to the Dubliner.
"In terms of Dara dealing with difficulties in his previous career, his future career, he’s one of the players I’d certainly be concerned about the least,” he said.
"But I know his focus is really positive and 100 per cent on the here and now and trying to help the club get the next result.”
Despite the Blues not having been able to establish themselves in the Premier League this season, McKenna says O’Shea is among a number of players who have had decent campaigns.
"We’ve had enough players this year shine individually,” he reflected. "Liam [Delap] at the other end of the pitch and lots of bodies in between who have shone individually.
"I think the way we play as a team, the way we are as a club, I think the environment here, I think the work that he gets here, it gives all of the players a chance to show up really well individually and I think Dara is one of those who does that.
"Of course, playing for Ipswich Town is different than playing for Liverpool but I think he’s in environment where we try and give all the players the best chance to play their best football and I think Dara’s working towards that.”