Town boss Kieran McKenna is not ruling out Liam Delap remaining at the Blues beyond the end of this season, despite the striker’s release clause of £30 million in the event of relegation.
Delap appears certain to move on from Portman Road in the summer with several clubs showing an interest in Town’s 12-goal top scorer in England and overseas.
Chelsea and Manchester United are understood to be leading the chase for the 22-year-old, while Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Juventus are also believed to be monitoring the England U21 international.
Delap’s former side Manchester City are also known to have included a 20 per cent sell-on in the deal to sign the forward for an initial £15 million last summer.
McKenna says Delap is fully enjoying his time in Suffolk and claims it is not impossible the striker remains at the club this summer.
"It's not something that's been discussed loads internally at the moment because everyone's focus has been on Bournemouth, Wolves and now Chelsea,” he said.
"If you ask me is that a possibility, I think it's certainly a possibility. Liam's a young striker, he's developing really well at the football club, he's happy and is improving every week and we're enjoying working with him.
"I'm sure there's lots of different possibilities but Liam's an Ipswich player, he enjoys being an Ipswich player and that's where his full focus is.”
Delap’s release clause is set at £30 million in the event of the Blues’ likely relegation to the Championship, news that has led to lots of speculation around the striker’s future.
But McKenna has not paid attention to any external noise surrounding his talisman, instead suggesting it would be more strange if there was not any talk given the successful season Delap is having.
He said: "I've not seen much of it, to be honest. I'm pretty good at blocking it out but it's definitely a stage for really blocking it all out and focusing on ourselves.
"I think there's been chat about Liam all season, if there hadn't been it would be very unusual. He's done fantastically well, there's very few like him in world football and he's only going to get better.
"If there wasn't a lot of chat, if there wasn't a lot of clubs linked and interested then I'd be questioning the sanity of all the other clubs. It's a good thing for us, it's a good thing for the club.
"Liam's very happy here, he's developing well and that's where his focus is. He picked up a really heavy knock on Saturday in the game so he's missed some training this week, but I know his full focus is on getting ready to help the team and help the team in the last seven games.”
On the timing of the news, McKenna added: "I have no interest. Probably if I go through the papers, Arsenal are probably linked as well who we play the week after. Newcastle as well, I haven't seen it but I'm guessing.
"If there was any Premier League club who wouldn't like to have Liam Delap in their team or their squad, I'd be questioning them.”
Delap has widely been praised by many throughout the course of the season and McKenna was asked whether the extra attention puts any more pressure on the striker.
"It's the same for any player,” he said. "What's really important is what your teammates think of you, what your family and support network from a football perspective think of you, and what your manager and coaching staff think you're doing well on and what you can improve.
"External noise, whether that's building you up and praising you, or external noise that's criticising you, has to be of minimum relevance relative to the important feedback that you can get.
"Liam gets praised here and he gets plenty of criticism and plenty of areas to improve. He also gets that at home, I'm pretty sure, and he gets that from the people around him and he gets that from a fantastic group of teammates that he's got.
"That's the feedback that I know he listens to and that he focuses on. That's the feedback and the environment that's helped him improve across the season. That would be the way of thinking and the support network that will help him have the career that hopefully he'll have.”