Town boss Mick McCarthy has revealed he made a loan enquiry regarding winger Ryan Fraser but as he expected AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe told him he won't be available. Former Scotland U21 international Fraser, 22, was hugely impressive on loan at Portman Road last season but saw his campaign twice halted due to injury.

McCarthy says there’s no chance of the one-time Aberdeen man returning to Portman Road: “No, I did ask, I spoke to Eddie. I didn’t think so, but I’ve left my marker down just in case.

“They’re signing Jordon Ibe, I believe, he’s a right winger. I think Ryan’s a left winger, he’s better on the left coming in on his right, a bit like Matt Jarvis that I had a Wolves, he’s the same.”

The Blues manager says he expects Fraser to get his chance in the Premier League during the season ahead: “I would think so. I spoke to Eddie, and I’m sure he knows anyway, but he asked me what I thought and I said I think he could play for any team in the Premier League.

“If you put him in he’d handle it, he’d play on the inside, he goes past people, he can see a pass and he’s got a goal in him. And he does all the dirty stuff as well, which I think was the big reason that he came to us because he knew he’d have to do it. And he did.

“I remember him against Brighton winning a header against the six-foot tall wide player coming in. He was at the far stick heading it clear. He bought into it, he’s a great kid.”

He says Fraser was a big miss when he was sidelined, a knee injury putting him out of action between September and December and a hamstring problem ending his season in February.

“We lost Ryan because he was injured and we lost Ainsley Maitland-Niles, he missed games, he’d just run out of gas, I think,” McCarthy added.

“We lost a fair bit, didn’t we? And Didzy, who can go past people with a bit of skill. We did miss that, so it’ll be nice to have him back.”

While Fraser may not be available, McCarthy, who has said he is targeting Premier League players on loan, is hopeful he can bring in someone who can make a similar impact during 2016/17.

“I always think something will happen, I’m always optimistic about it,” he continued. “What that will be I don’t know. I’ll remain optimistic.”

Also missing for much of last season was Teddy Bishop, who was one of Town’s most impressive performers in the 2-1 win at Shelbourne on Saturday, drifting inside from a right midfield role McCarthy has previously said he is considering for the 19-year-old given the dearth of wingers currently at the club.

McCarthy says he continues to look for wide additions but Bishop playing that position, from where he created most of Town's first-half chances on Saturday, is an option.

“I want to add to the squad,” he confirmed. “But Bish was excellent in the first half playing from the right and wandering about.

“If we haven’t got out and out wingers we’ll do something else and I’m cool with Bish, I want Bish in the team anyway.

“I think had the pitch been cut shorter [at Tolka Park] he’d have scored or he’d have set a couple up. It stuck between his feet for about four seconds, he was running beyond it.

“He’s fabulous, he’s a fabulous footballer, I love him. He’s very, very gifted, he glides past people for fun, He can see a pass.

“It’s lovely to have him back and he might fill that slot on the right-hand side for us. Not as a winger but as a right-sided midfield player.

“There’s no way I’m going to stick him right out there because it would be a waste of him.

“If you haven’t got what could be described as wide players, you’ve got to adapt and try something else and I think, to be fair, it worked well with Bish.”

Photo: Action Images

afcfee added 06:07 - Jul 12 Don't see a problem with such a young player trying a new position won't do anyone any harm
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Dissboyitfc added 06:34 - Jul 12 " i think Ryans a left winger" . How long did we have him? I find that a strange comment!
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MicksZzzTactics added 07:18 - Jul 12 Dissboyitfc: Heck Dinosaur Mick thinks EVERYBODY is a "winger", left .... or right, doesn't he??? :-) lol I mean considering the number of either UNcreative players or players out of their best position (i.e. the ever soooo proverbial "square pegs in round holes" fetish of Mick's) he has put out on the wings during his boring tenure here!
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hoppy added 07:23 - Jul 12 Shame the conversation with Eddie didn't continue with "oh, ok then, so if he's not going to be available on loan, we'll buy him off you please.", followed by Eddie's response of "ok, that will be £100 and 3 packets of roast beef monster munch please".
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Len_Brennan added 07:38 - Jul 12 @Dissboy: To be fair to Mick on this one, I think his point is that Ryan Fraser is right footed & generally you would expect a right footed winger to be on right side of the pitch going wide, but he sees Fraser's strength is cutting in when played on the left. He could play on either side, it's just where he sees him most effective; as opposed to having had him here last year & still not being sure where he should be played.

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Surco72 added 08:11 - Jul 12 If you haven't got wingers go and get some , same as a right back . Bishop should be playing in the centre and build the team around him , not put him on the right and let him try to adapt because you have failed to get anyone else in . If we start the season without Skuse and Douglas playing in the centre I will be very surprised . MM failure to sign wingers on a permanent deal has been poor so far Henshall, Anderson , Toure, Stewart , Tabb which has led to others being played out of position most notably Sears and Bru don't do it again with Bishop

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iaintaylorx added 08:26 - Jul 12 "I want to add to the squad" he confirmed. Please hurry up and bloody get on with it then please!!
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Radlett_blue added 08:26 - Jul 12 Spot-on Surco, the more Mick talks the more I worry about this season.
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Mr_Evans added 08:36 - Jul 12 “I always think something will happen, I'm always optimistic about it,” he continued. “What that will be I don't know. I'll remain optimistic.” It's comments like this that piss people off. At the end of every season it's "We'll look to invest, there's money available blah blah". And at the start of pre season MM tells everybody that he pretty much has no plan for going forward. It's incredibly patronising to every fan that spends their money for him to tell us all that "what will be will be".

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MattinLondon added 08:47 - Jul 12 If Skuse and Douglas start in the centre more often than not then we won't be challenging for the play-offs.
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joepublic added 08:50 - Jul 12 Bishop should play in the middle. A teams strength is in the spine of the team.
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GoldieBlue added 08:55 - Jul 12 Hate the fact it seems MM highlight of Frasers spell here was him winning a defensive header against a 6ft attacker. Just sums him up. Really struggling to be optimistic about this season. Need a good start otherwise I fear it could be a mid table/nothing to play for season or possibly even worse.
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MarkFish added 09:08 - Jul 12 It will be worse goldieblue mark my words, unless of course we get at least 2 very decent players in....which we won't.
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vanmunt added 09:12 - Jul 12 I am no football manager that is for sure but even I know that shoehorning players in doesn't work..
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alexsmith111 added 09:40 - Jul 12 Although i would have loved to see him back, he may be a exception to this logic, but i think we should be playing with our own players. Its a risk but give Stuart a bash on the right and get another winger in on the permanent. CM is sorted with Bish and skuse. A right back is another need. LW and RB and we should be sorted, on permanent deals
1

brittaniaman added 09:53 - Jul 12 Marcus Evans has found out in the last 2-3 seasons that owning a football team outside the premier league is mighty Expensive and draining money from his account as fast as he can make it ????? hence the tightening of his Purse strings !!! So unless we can unearth some little Gems from the lower leagues,, who can raise to the Challenge,, we are staying put in this league which we have been in so long it will soon be named Ipswich and Friends !!! Apart from that let us start this campaign running as quick as we canned 6pts.in the Bag before we face Norwich would be good !!!! So come on you Blues !!!!!!

3

thatdamgood89 added 10:34 - Jul 12 Bish plays on the right while chambers at RB,which means we once again will be playing narrow in midfield putting bodies in the center and congesting the pitch. Not what you want at all for a 'PASSING' team so the new ball playing defender we have wasted our transfer budget on better start practicing his lumps up to Murphy. This is the worst summer at PR and that's including the administration years.

3

Pilgrimblue added 11:15 - Jul 12 It just gets worse! Not surprised that Howe wasn't interested in letting MM have Fraser back as he played him when he wasn't fit and resulted in long lay off. I bet Howe loans him out once season kicks off. This is going to be a tough season. No signings on the horizone and no money available. Can't believe we'll be seeing Skuse/ Douglas combo with Bish fitted in whereas we should have Bish and Bru taking over with Mcg supporting the forwards.

2

runningout added 12:27 - Jul 12 our style of football has been sad, little shock players of good level will be hesitate to come to our once great club
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vanmunt added 12:34 - Jul 12 Ipswich Town fast becoming the Oliver Twist of football with our begging bowl to premier league clubs.. even Bristol City are splashing the cash with two recent signings of 3M.. I fear a long season.
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unknown100 added 13:03 - Jul 12 Not looking good, not being funny but what do our scouts do? Bring in some foreign wingers? Add a bit of flair, must be some hidden gems out there and they never command a huge fee, like Knudsen (he's ok but a first team player now) remember the likes of Reuser, Jimmy Juan, hreidarsson, sumolikovski, Sixto, they were good players and no one had ever heard of them
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patrickswell added 14:32 - Jul 12 Fine, no more loans - let's find some players and bring them in and own them. There must be nuggets out there for reasonable money, who would improve us and see us as a step up.
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ivegottheblues added 16:04 - Jul 12 Britanniaman (sic) I'm afraid you're quite right. The days of ME spending megabucks ended with employing Roy Keane as a big publicity stunt & then letting him waste £millions & make crazy decision (eg selling Rhodes to part-fund the purchase of Priskin). Having said that the present lack of ambition of MM with his nice new contract commits us to yet another season of mediocrity. (Please don't anybody say 'ah but we finished 7th - we did it playing awful football)

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strikalite added 16:44 - Jul 12 Bishop will be wasted out wide right eh Mick, is that anything to do with the fact that Chambers punts aimlessly? Ideally you don't want wingers to stretch the pitch you'd sooner have right midfielders who can play on the back foot and keep it tight... You can't expect a talented winger to put the dirty stuff on a par with also having to hurt teams...give Ruud Gullit a ring, he'll explain it to you...that why Hazard was so sh!te last season for Chelski too, asked to do more dirty work..

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jas0999 added 17:14 - Jul 12 I'm not surprised by this and wish Fraser all the very best in the future. Problem is we really did miss him when injured. He was one of the few quality players in the squad, which is now much weaker without him. I would be very disappointed if we don't sign a couple of out and out wingers. A promotion chasing team should not be making do with central players out of position, that would be a complete lack of ambition and the alarm bells should certainly be ringing if Evans isn't freeing up any funds. Currently we have a seven player shortfall from last season and just one new addition to the squad. Doesn't say 'promotion contenders' to me.

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