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McKenna: We Definitely Want to Keep Axel - Ipswich Town News

Blues boss Kieran McKenna says he definitely wants to keep defender Axel Tuanzebe at the club next season.

DR Congo international Tuanzebe is out of contract in the summer and is yet to agree new terms at the club. Speaking last week, the former Manchester United man said he was happy to wait until the summer to settle his future.

McKenna is in no doubt that he wants the 27-year-old to remain at Portman Road at the end of his second season at the club.

"Definitely, and Axel knows that,” McKenna said. "We think a lot of him and he’s been a very important player for us this season and last season and he’s built himself back up to a good level, we think, of form and robustness and found a good home here.

"Of course, we’re going to try and if that can be possible then I think we’ll be really pleased.

"And I think it’s a good place for Axel as well, and let’s see what the next few weeks brings.”

While Tuanzebe will definitely be in his plans for next season if a deal can be agreed, there are players who will almost certainly be moving on whether at the end of loans or otherwise this summer.

However, McKenna isn’t going to take those sorts of matters into consideration when he picks his teams in the remaining weeks of the campaign, despite the Blues’ relegation being all but confirmed.

"There are always a multitude of things that come into your thinking, but the overwhelming majority is to picking a team to perform as we can and try and pick up points,” he said.

"It’s not the contractual situation of different players or anything like that. We’ve still got six games left, it’s still a chunk of the season, we know how big the season is and we want every performance to be at the best level we can possibly produce. That’s the real overriding factor in any decision that we’re making.”

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