Boss Roy Keane says skipper Jon Walters has been “outstanding” since he took over as boss last April and should be playing in the Premier League. Keane made Walters his captain in September after Alex Bruce suffered an injury and the Republic of Ireland B international has kept the armband ever since.

Keane said: “Jon’s been outstanding. He’s a been a really good leader for us, even earlier in the season when we were having a difficult spell.

“He’s shown good leadership skills, he trains well, he’s got a good attitude and he set up two of the goals up last weekend.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, Jon Walters could easily be playing in the Premiership, so we’re very lucky to have him. He’s a very, very important player for us.

“The game he missed at Palace, we missed him. It’s not just what we see on a Saturday but it’s what happens the rest of the week, obviously the supporters and media don’t see that. He’s a big, big player for us.

“People lead in different ways. Jon leads with his attitude to training, the way he speaks to people, his respect to the staff, the way he plays, his workrate and his never-say-die attitude. He’s got a lot going for him. How he’s not playing in the Premiership I’ll never know.”

Keane says it’s only a matter of time before the former Chester man receives a full Republic of Ireland call-up: “If he keeps playing the way he is then that’s up to the international manager. But Jon will know that if he keeps playing how he is for Ipswich, that will happen. He’s a good player with a good attitude and it’s a pleasure to work with him.”

Midfielder David Norris also qualifies to play for the Republic of Ireland and Keane says he is another member of his squad in with a chance of international football if he continues to impress for the Blues: “First and foremost they have to play for Ipswich, it doesn’t matter who they qualify for.

“David’s coming back from injury and we have to be careful with him. He certainly won’t be ready to play three games in a week, absolutely no chance, that’s how injuries come about.

“We’ve got a very good fitness coach. We look at all the stats and the data from the players and we think that certain players are more capable of playing the three games than others, certainly players in the defence where it’s not as intense as it is for strikers or midfielders where you’ve more sharp sprints. We’ve got to be careful with David. It’s more prevention than anything else.”

Jon Stead serves the final game of his four-match ban on Saturday, while Brian Murphy will again miss out due to the ankle injury he sustained in the warm-up at Leicester. The Irish keeper could be back on Tuesday when West Brom are at Portman Road and otherwise the Blues have no new injury worries.

The Blues boss says he is yet to make a decision on whether Trinidadian international striker John will remain at the club beyond the end of the month: “He’s been a big plus since he came to the club but we have to respect that he’s contracted to Crystal Palace. We’ll see. I think we’ll have a look at it after the game against West Brom.

“We want to be fair to Palace and to Stern so won't let it go to the very last day of January. With Stern’s situation, because we had him previously, if we’re going to take him it would have to be for the rest of the season.”

The 33-year-old netted the first goal of his spell in last week’s 3-2 victory over Coventry City.

Photo: Action Images

Solly added 08:54 - Jan 22 Absolutely superb. Keane's man management skills on top form again; you have to say that Walters and Norris are his sort of players, but he still has a point.
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bedsitfc added 09:04 - Jan 22 ssshhhh dont tell prem boys how good he is, he could have his head turned with big money
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haynes_is_a_ledgend added 09:08 - Jan 22 agree ^^ with both of these walters is an amazing play and we need to keep hold of the living legend we love him truely.
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brockleyblueboy added 09:14 - Jan 22 Damn right bedsitfc. Lets keep walters on the down low, still 2 weeks of the transfer window open and if we were to lose him now, it would be very VERY difficult to replace him. We need him for our play-off push. Lets smash southahmpton up 4-1, and carry that momentum onto Tuesday for a 1-0 win, play-off gap down to 7 points and then go on a winning streak, carry the momentum to win the play-offs, am I a blind optimist or mystic meg? We shall see. COYB

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FenboyBlue added 09:15 - Jan 22 Bang on, Royston. Walters seems to have been under criticism by some on the forum this season ("he's not the player he was" etc) which baffles me. I'd like to know how many assists he's got this season. He always seems to be involved in the build up of every Ipswich goal even when played out-of-position. He plays in whatever position Roy tells him to and gets on with it, with a cheeky smile on his face.

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bleedblue added 09:16 - Jan 22 I think its safe to say, his performances do the talking and he has been linked with the premier league before Mr Keane has come out and said this so this is a just a good bit of praise from gaffer to player, and will boost his confidence even more so. No doubt, a lot of teams will certainly be tracking him and if not in this transfer window, then we have to expect rumours/enquiries/offers in the summer, just hope he stays to pay for Ipswich in the Premiership! Walking in a Walters wonderland!

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Flip added 09:17 - Jan 22 ok to keep a player from playing a higher level of football beyond their wishes is wrong but at the same time if it wasn't for us taking a gamble on him he would still be playing league 2 football and he has been a massive player for us but its only a matter of time before we reach the prem so he owes us that much all we need is a guaranteed goalscorer and our jigsaw puzzle of a team should be pretty much complete for championship standards COYB

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dirtydingusmagee added 09:55 - Jan 22 was kinda hoping he would be a prem player next season .....with us !,hope we can hang on to him.
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jpr_23 added 10:06 - Jan 22 Is Keane talking hiom up in order to generate some interest? Are we looking to sell?
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squiz added 10:25 - Jan 22 ^^^ thats what i thought when i read the article. keep it quiet keane !
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Suffolk_n_Good added 10:27 - Jan 22 Why on earth does Keane feel the need to publicly tell the world that his Skipper should be playing in the Premier League right smack bang in the middle of the transfer window?!? Surely this will only alert Prem League managers to him!!
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OsborneOneNil added 10:35 - Jan 22 Keane trying to offload him, no doubt about that.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 10:39 - Jan 22 Just like to remind you who was responsible for bringing this great player to the club - and, no, that does not automatically mean I'm knocking RK!
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brockleyblueboy added 10:46 - Jan 22 I think we may be looking too much into this. Walters is quality, plain and simple. Yes he may have had a dip in form but what player doesn't. Keane is galvanizzing the team and praise is going where praise is due. The majority of managaers do and if they aren't then that should surely raise more questions. David Moyes bigged up Pienar (Sorry can't spell his name) with that goal against Arsenal, not because he wanted to sell him but because he and the goal was awesome. However I do love the speculation.

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muhrensleftfoot added 11:01 - Jan 22 Amazing luck that we have Walters. If we hadn't played Chester in the FA Cup it wouldn't have happened, & do I remember correctly that we shouldn't have played Chester because they got beaten in previous round, but their opponents fielded an illegal player so were disqualified? It must've been fate. He's invaluable, best position wide right, but a great target man up front too. Let's hope we don't lose him in the summer

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Surco72 added 11:24 - Jan 22 Amazing luck that Walters ended up captain too, Mac was the man for the job then publicly criticized ,told he could leave and dropped ,then Bruce was the man for the job LOL got injured and cant get back in ,now the born leader who should be in the premiership has got it and doing a great job ,well done Jon Boy
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nobrain added 11:50 - Jan 22 Premiership clubs will have identified JW as a potential target long ago - their scouts will have picked this up. I don't believe that managers pay much attention to the public statements of other managers when they praise/criticise their own players - they depend on their scouts.
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cjpase1027 added 12:04 - Jan 22 to all who say Keane is trying to sell Walters - i disagree, why cant a manager praise one of his players without being accused of trying to attract an offer for him!?!? ridiculous!!!
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Marcus added 12:09 - Jan 22 I guess a team has made an enquiry and Keane is trying to push the price up - perhaps to price out the offer or make it seem unrealistic if it's from another Championship team.
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bluepeter added 12:40 - Jan 22 I felt like many others that Jim had to go, but full credit to Jim for spotting Walters. Keep it up Jon!
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ITFC1985 added 13:02 - Jan 22 Trying to offload him after the manager praises him? Hmmmm some of you people leave me lost for words at times, Keane also praised Lee-Barratt for his performances recently i guess he'll be out the door aswel?? the usual people trying to stir stuff up on here again
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jonf added 15:06 - Jan 22 Good to see that Walters is getting some praise from Keane, might give him a confidence boost needed for some decent performances. Oh, and I'm not sure that Walters quite earns enough at the moment to be able to 'pay for Ipswich', bleedblue, but a man can dream after all ;)!
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bluebare added 15:27 - Jan 22 well you all have been watching a diferent walters to me. yes he works hard but has been way below par. seems to me that with his quality he has to be in the team but no manager yet has found out where that is. he needs a rest and a wake up like others have had. i hope that when we play southampton we do the same as at chester and take ricky lambert off them.
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cbower added 15:57 - Jan 22 Magilton said something interesting about Walters during the chit-chat before the Leicester game on Sky with regard to how he came to play on the right instead of as an out and out striker. Jim said he played him there because he just had to have Walters in the team somewhere and a that time others were occupying the striker positions. I think Roy has the same dilemma and he is not quite sure where to play Walters but he is certain he must be in the team somewhere. I personally feel that he is best on the right as he wins so much in the air, invariably cos he is against a smaller full back. I do not think he is an out and out goalscorer and he has missed a number of gilt-edged chances this season. Like Keane, it is his attitude, effort and all round desire that impresses me and he would be in my first eleven evey week. Keane knows there would be uproar if he sold Walters and I do not feel he is trying to off-load him. It would be (will be?) interesting though to see where RK plays him if a goalscoring striker is brought in (or if Priskin / Counago get a run at partnering Stead up front).

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jamie22 added 17:26 - Jan 22 Steve_ITFC_Sweden... You are correct, the best thing Jim did during his managerial career was risk on Jon!I didn't like Jim as a manager but anyone who knocks him cannot say this was brilliant of him!
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