Full-back Janoi Donacien’s move to Fleetwood Town on loan for the rest of the season has been confirmed.

The 27-year-old was made available by Town having been unable to break into the League One XI this season and had been interesting a number of clubs.

Plymouth had a £50,000 offer rebuffed last week, while Donacien’s former club Accrington Stanley, where he also spent a loan spell during 2018/19, and Wigan were also keen.

Donacien is looking forward to getting into action with the Cod Army.

“I was ready to come up here and play," he told Fleetwood's official website. “I spoke to the manager and speaking to him made me want to come here, it helped me with my decision so much.

“I got a really good vibe from [caretaker-manager] Simon [Wiles], the way he wants to play, and where he sees the club going forward and that was it for me.

“Every day is a learning experience, but I have loved it here so far, starting with the talk I had with the manager yesterday, everyone has been really welcoming to me. I know Sam [Finley], I was at Accrington with Sam, so that helps.

“I love playing football, I’ll play wherever the manager will want to play me, I’ve always said this. I’m happy to play anywhere but I am a right-back at the end of the day so that is where I want to be playing.”

He added: “I’m a solid right-back, so defensively, we are going to try and keep a lot more clean sheets and I will do everything I can to try for the team.

“We want to be more secure, that was in the squad meeting this morning and I want to be up and down, attacking and defending. I want to get better at creating chances from where I am.

“With me coming in, I hope I can do well at this place, play as many games as I can. I feel like I’ve been in that mode for a while now, when I was at Accrington, I just wanted to play games and get myself out there just to show what I could do.

“You need to stay strong because football is as much mental as it is physical, so you just have to keep pushing for yourself really — I’ll go until I am running into the ground.”

The St Lucia-born full-back or centre-half’s only three games for the Blues this season have come cup competitions.

The former Aston Villa youngster’s Town contract is up in the summer, although the Blues have an option for a further season.

Paul Hurst brought Donacien to Portman Road in the summer of 2018 for £750,000 from Stanley - initially on loan while his permanent leave to remain was confirmed - and the defender was regular during the current Grimsby manager’s time at Portman Road. However, he has rarely featured since Paul Lambert, his boss at Villa, took charge at Town.

In total, Donacien has made 30 starts and two sub appearances in his two and a half years with the Blues without scoring.

Skipper Luke Chambers is currently playing at right-back with Kane Vincent-Young still on his way back from injury, while Luke Woolfenden, Gwion Edwards and Cole Skuse, also currently sidelined with injury, all have experience of playing there.

Assistant manager Stuart Taylor talked about Donacien's impending exit at this morning's press conference.

Photo: Matchday Images

Juggsy added 16:39 - Jan 22 Farcical that Chambers is our only 'fit' right back and this guy can't get a sniff of first team action. Lambert out.
13

heathen66 added 16:51 - Jan 22 Surely we should have taken the £50k even if it was an insult Surely he can now leave for free in the summer ??? Why take a loan when we could have sold him, unless the bigger picture may be that we may have a new manager come the summer and he may not want two 36 year olds as his full backs ...who incidentally are also out of contract ???
3

Blue_badge added 16:54 - Jan 22 I'm wishing JD well at FT as I don't feel he's been treated fairly here - guess time will tell.
13

blues1 added 17:10 - Jan 22 Heathen66. He can only leave for free in the summer if the club decide not to take up the years option they have on him.
4

therein61 added 17:24 - Jan 22 Good luck to him i hope he gets some game time he has been called a donkey on here but it must be galling to be kept out of the side by a bigger un droppable one.
4

Wickets added 18:06 - Jan 22 Edwards and Woolfie have both played right back and we have to conform to the dreaded salary cap , so i suppose needs must .
2

ArnieM added 18:07 - Jan 22 Well unless this Club has another RB coming in this move is absolute madness!
2

timkatieadamitfc added 18:36 - Jan 22 I'm not surprised he wants off, Lambert stated at start of season that you have to keep the shirt yet chambers has cost us so many goals this season AGAIN,and like others have posted he's just undropable, being kept out of the team by a terrible player and not given a sniff must be disheartening
6

cornishblu added 19:25 - Jan 22 £25k an appearance ....that's half the cost of our whole squad now on match days ....makes you scratch your head
0

heathen66 added 19:26 - Jan 22 blues1 Is it the player, the club or do both need to agree to the year contract extension ??? If Lambert is here then Janoi will not want to extend his contract If Lambert is here, then Lambert wants rid as we can see Surely the only chance of him extending his stay is if Lambert is not here Unless I am missing something
-2

heathen66 added 19:28 - Jan 22 I also wish Janoi all the best IMO has done very little wrong when called upon, and been treated very poorly. I think it is the right decision for him personally, but maybe not for ITFC !!!
2

mow_the_lawn added 20:02 - Jan 22 Heathen66, I think you're bang on. The loan is surely a precautionary measure in case (fingers crossed) a new manager is in place at the end of the season, they'll be able work out if they see a future for him here, plus he'll have been playing first team football at this level for the next few months so his qualities will be evident for all to see. Or evans genuinely thinks we could get promoted and an unwanted championship defender would cost more than an unwanted league one defender.

1

have_a_word_with_him added 21:09 - Jan 22 will be interesting to see how he does. If he does well, it will reflect terribly on Shambert
4

Facefacts added 21:18 - Jan 22 Lambert is a big time Charlie who when we play Fleetwood I bet JD will play better than Luke Chambers in the RB position. But LMbert won't 'see' that. Hope we go up so we can keep JD We are not a big enough club for Lambert to freeze out senior players. It wouldn't happen anywhere else in L1.
2

istanblue added 21:37 - Jan 22 So a player bought for 750k will seemingly be released in the summer for nothing. Another Marcus Evans transfer masterclass #EvansOut
1

planetblue_2011 added 21:38 - Jan 22 Don't know why he's never given a chance? Surely he's better than Chambers at right back!!
6

RobsonWark added 22:13 - Jan 22 Who cares. We have Luke Chambers. YAY!!! Janoi Donacien must be really, really, really crap...
1

WonTheCupin78 added 23:46 - Jan 22 So if Chambers gets injured who then plays at RB? Barry Cotter? The Wolf? Dylan Crowe?
0

shakytown added 03:25 - Jan 23 They would be better than captain calamity cupin. Worst defender in the division. old slow and totally disinterested sums chambers up.
0

arc added 03:41 - Jan 23 Good luck, Janoi. :-)
0

heathen66 added 12:12 - Jan 23 ...and the real funny thing is that when we play Fleetwood...Donacien will not be able to play...just in case he plays too well and helps the opposition too much. I know all loans are like this but it is quite ironic really for a player who cannot get a game no matter what under Lambert...because he does not rate him !!!
0

johnwarksshorts added 12:15 - Jan 23 Facefacts, not entirely sure but isn't it part of the loan deal that he isn't allowed to play against parent club? If so we'll never know if he plays better than Chambers.
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Linkboy13 added 17:12 - Jan 23 Donacian straight into the Fleetwood team none of this sitting on the bench for a few games. He will do well at Fleetwood and prove Lambert isn't motivating his players and has fallen out with a lot of players at Ipswich.
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ldnj added 17:35 - Jan 23 Well done Donacien. Straight into the team, 90 mins, "player of the match" (according to my app). Good for him. He probably has something to prove (that he's a professional).
1

algarvefan added 14:58 - Jan 24 Man of the match in his first game, should be playing for us and has never warranted dropping IMO.
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