Town boss Kieran McKenna says it’s unlikely Kalvin Phillips will play for the Blues again this season with the on-loan Manchester City man still struggling with an achilles issue.
Former England international Phillips, 29, has been in and out of the side all season due to a variety of injuries.
"No, not for this weekend, still struggling, so we won’t have him this weekend,” McKenna said when asked about the ex-Leeds man’s prospects for Sunday’s trip to Leicester.
Regarding Phillips’s stop-start season, he added: "Yes, he arrived having not played much football for the couple of seasons before. If he had, he probably wouldn’t have been at Ipswich this season.
"He’s been a good person in the group, he had a fairly stable run of games at the start of the season while he was still working to get back to his best form.
"I feel like we had a period at Christmas and just after where actually he was playing really well and really getting to a good level where he was really, really helping the team and probably the Tottenham game probably typified that because for the first 60 minutes of that game he was outstanding, definitely one of the best players on the pitch and it felt like training and matchdays he was getting to a good, consistent level.
"And probably since then, he got a big gash on his foot from that game, required a lot of stitches and time off his feet and since he came back, we managed to get him in the squad against Bournemouth and Wolves but probably hasn’t been fully fit or had a really good training base behind him and from there he’s had a little problem with his achilles and he’s not going to be available this weekend.
"Whether we can get him on the pitch before the end of the season, is maybe unlikely at this point.
"In many ways I think frustrating for him and for us that we haven’t been able to get him to his best as quickly as we could and utilise a really fully fit and confident Kalvin for more of the season because he would have been an addition to us.
"He showed that in the period where we did have him operating at a really, really good level but he’s been a really good person around the group, he’s tried to help the group and I’m sure there’ll be bits from the season, like all the players, that he’ll take from and hopefully he can have a good season next year.”
Asked whether there might be a chance Phillips, who is contracted to City until the summer of 2028 and has been linked with a return to Elland Road, could return to Portman Road next season, McKenna said: "It’s not something we’ve spoken about or looked at too much in that position yet, to be honest.
"I think everyone’s focus, certainly mine in and around the training group, has been around the games remaining and that’s where everything is.
"I’ve had very few conversations with many of the players about next season because we’ve all been very keen to focus down on the last games.
"Those conversations will take place maybe a little bit next week, certainly the few days after the season finishes with the players that are here, the loan players about the future and we’ll see what comes.”