Town boss Kieran McKenna believes loan signing Jens Cajuste is getting into the flow of the season, having been voted the club’s Player of the Month for November.

Cajuste joined the Blues from Napoli for the season in August after a move to Brentford broke down due to issues with his knee which emerged in his medical.

The Swedish international made his first start at Brentford towards the end of October and then, with Kalvin Phillips sidelined, started the 2-1 win at Tottenham and then the three following matches, before dropping to the bench last week as Town sought to manage his minutes.

“Nice recognition for him, really,” McKenna said regarding the midfielder’s November award. “He's sort of getting into the flow of the season now. He's been a good addition for us.

“He arrived not late, but later than what we would have wanted. So we didn't get a pre-season with him.

“It's well known that he arrived with a pre-existing condition that had to be managed a little bit at the start of the season. He's made some really good strides on that but it still needs to be managed a little bit, so he wasn't quite ready to start another game by Sunday last week. But we're really enjoying working with him. 

“He has a sort of different background than a lot of our players. We have so many players who've been on similar journeys through the lower leagues of English football.

“He's obviously had a pretty unique journey in his life, compared to any professional footballer, but also his football journey from the Danish league to the French league to Serie A. And now to Ipswich Town is a pretty unique journey as well. 

“So it's a different, not challenge for us as staff, but it's a different background for us to work with, to understand, to try and get the best of. And we've enjoyed that.

“And I think he's really enjoyed it here. I think that's a credit to the group as well and how they've initiated him.

“I've said from the start that I think he's a very, very talented footballer. I think he's got a really high potential and still has lots of room to improve. He's at a good age for the experiences that he's had. So we're happy to have him here.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Len_Brennan added 17:46 - Dec 12 He is a very classy footballer, who is very comfortable at Premier League level. A fully fit Cajuste is worth multiples of the £12m that we are obliged to pay for him at the end of the season, if we stay up. Unfortunately, if we do go down, we'll lose him back to Napoli, for nothing, & I'm sure that a number of PL sides will be prepared to pay far more than £12m for a proven PL midfielder.

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Bad_Boy_Mark added 18:47 - Dec 12 Cajuste is a super player and will continue to make a big contribution as the season continues!
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billlm added 09:19 - Dec 13 He's a rolls Royce a joy to watch,
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gosblue added 13:02 - Dec 14 He's the Matt Holland to Morsey's Jim Majilton.
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Linkboy13 added 13:49 - Dec 14 Would like to see him more creative but he's neat and tidy but not spectacular.
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