Idris El Mizouni will be out to catch the eye of Town boss Paul Cook in tonight’s Papa John’s Trophy fixture at Gillingham but he believes it is vital that he doesn’t overdo his big chance to impress.

“These games should mean a lot to all the players who play,” said the 21-year-old midfielder. “If the manager makes changes and brings you into the team it is your chance to make an impression so that the next time he is sitting down to pick a side he has your name in his head.

“These games are very important to me because they give me an opportunity to show the gaffer what I can do. I want to impress him and make him realise he can pick me when he needs me.

“It is the type of game that if you can impress him he will have you in mind. If you make a good impression, the next time he is picking the team he will think of you.

“For all the players in the team at Gillingham it is the same. You want to play well but you don’t want to overdo it and try too hard to impress.

“I will just play my game and hope to do well, and it’s the same every time I play. The pressure comes when you are playing every game but I would love to have that kind of pressure in the future.”

El Mizouni recalled how he came to join up at Portman Road in the first place. He said: “I was playing in France for my Sunday League club and the U16 manager at the time knew an agent who knew people at both Ipswich and Leicester.

“He arranged for us to come over to England and play against both the clubs and it was after the Ipswich game that they said they liked me and two others, and they invited us to come over again in the summer for trials.

“I came over and they offered to sign me as an academy scholar but I was only 15 at the time and I had to be 16 to be a scholar. So I would come over from France when I had a holiday from school and the next year, when I was 16, I was able to sign.

“It was a big move to leave my family in France but I was so excited at the opportunity that I didn’t make a big thing of it.

“All I could think was what a big chance it was for me because we all know how big the game is in this country. All over the world people look at the Premier League as being the biggest of them all.

“I was being offered a chance to join a Championship club, just one level down, so of course I was very excited and didn’t want to miss out. I was able to speak English as well so that wasn’t a problem and for my football it was the best chance to take.

“The people in Ipswich were great with me, from the other players to the staff at the club they couldn’t do enough to help me and I never really got homesick.

“My mother is French and my father is from Tunisia — from his side I have a massive family. He has nine brothers and sisters, and they all have kids, some of whom I don’t really know yet.

“My mother only has one brother and I have a sister and a brother, both younger than me. I have a great relationship with them both and I have a close relationship with every member of my family. I speak every day with my parents.”

Paris-born El Mizouni has won two U23 caps for Tunisia and made his senior international debut in June 2019 as a late substitute in the 2-0 home win over Iraq in a friendly fixture played in Radès.

He added: “I decided I would always play for Tunisia if the chance came up. My father was born there and we used to go back every year on holiday to see the seven family members and their children who still live there. I have always felt Tunisian on the inside.

“It would be unreal for me if I could play for Tunisia in a major tournament like the African Cup of Nations or the World Cup. I would make my dad proud, but also my mum and the whole family. That would mean absolutely everything to me.

“Every time I am playing for Ipswich the family watches me on iFollow. We speak on the phone for an hour or so in the build-up to the game and they wish me well.

“After the game we speak again and they give me their feedback. If I haven’t played well they will tell me and they will say well done if they think I have had a good game.

“I think it’s important when I have their support and they advise me. My dad played a lot of football when he was younger — not professional but he knows the game and knows what he is talking about.”

Finally, El Mizouni named the two players he followed more than any others when he was growing up in France. He said: “When I was a kid I used to watch Zinedine Zidane all the time. He was my hero. Also Steven Gerrard at Liverpool and I loved them both.”

Photo: Action Images

Cakeman added 07:02 - Oct 5 Hopefully Idris will have a bright future with us. He certainly sounds a well grounded respectful chap.
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dirtydingusmagee added 08:03 - Oct 5 good luck to him,
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algarvefan added 18:00 - Oct 5 He did OK in the last cup game and will be a good player for us in the future. I hope he has a good game tonight and the players selected really want to win, we need to get a winning mentality running through the squad, like the women have done!
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