Davis: The New Lads Have Settled in Quickly Monday, 13th Oct 2025 10:06 by Kallum Brisset Town defender Leif Davis says the senior members of the Blues squad have worked hard to ensure all the club’s summer signings have settled into the group. After a close season with more turnover than initially expected, Town saw 11 new players join the club off the back of relegation from the Premier League. While some of those have played alongside some of their new teammates before, the likes of Azor Matusiwa, Iván Azón and Sindre Walle Egeli arrived having never played in England and needing to settle into a whole new culture as well as a new group of players. As one of the longest-serving players in the squad, Davis says he shouldered some of the responsibility in helping some of the newest signings to become accustomed to life in Suffolk. “It’s always difficult if you’re moving from a club where you know everyone to go into somewhere where you might know one or two people,” he said. “You’ve got Nacho [Marcelino Núñez] who’s come from Norwich, his English is good but it’s not the best to communicate with. But he’s a top lad, he’s settled in really quickly and he has good craic around the club with the boys as well, I was surprised to be fair. “All the lads, they’ve settled in really quickly. It’s easier for us to say that but it could be hard for them when they’re first coming in and they might look like they’re settled in quickly but they could be a bit nervous. “That’s up to the players that have been here for a long period of time to get them going and make them welcome and I think we’ve done that, especially with the new lads that have joined late as well. “Now everyone is settled in and it takes that time to settle in as well, you don’t just come here settling in straight away. “You’re coming to a new environment, especially lads that have come from different countries. The last few weeks of training has stepped up to where it should be and where it has been for the past three years I’ve been here. The quality is right there.” Asked how the current squad compares to the promotion-winning squad of two years ago, Davis added: “It’s hard to say. We had incredible players back then as well in the two years we got promoted. “The thing was back then we had the togetherness, which we’re getting now with the team that we’ve got. It’s just people that want to work hard and that’s what we have here as well now. “Everyone that wants to work hard and improve every day, that’s what it needs to take to be successful.” Now into his fourth season at Portman Road, Davis has acted as one of the constants in a side that has undergone so much change over the last 18 months. Aged 25, the left-back now sees himself as one of the leaders in the dressing room, claiming he has taken a lot from the influence of former captain Sam Morsy. He said: “I’ve been here one of the longest now, so I’ve got to step up and drive training every day, driving in games for people to look at me and think ‘I’ve got to follow and do what he has to do’. “A few years ago, Skip done that and I was like ‘I’m going to have to do that’. When he went I had to step up and fill his boots and I think I have done that in training especially, just driving it every day, trying to get the intensity up as well and bring quality to the sessions.” On the pitch, Davis would ordinarily be competing with Conor Townsend for a starting berth on the left-hand side of the defence in Kieran McKenna’s system. But Townsend suffered an ACL tear during the final pre-season friendly with AJ Auxerre which has ruled him out for the entirety of the campaign. “I was gutted when it happened,” Davis said. “It’s never nice to see a player with that injury, it’s never nice to see a player with any injury. Especially for Conor who’s worked hard, an incredible player and incredible person. “We’ve helped each other along for the past two years now, last year he helped me along and he showed his quality in the Prem games as well and the experience that he’s had. "Obviously it’s been a struggle, I haven’t seen him that much with his injury because he’s been doing stuff to help him and being away from the club doing stuff that he needs to do. “But when he has, he’s always been there for me and I'm always there for him as well, going through the tough part of his career as well with the injury. I was just gutted for him and hopefully he can come back stronger.” Someone that can play at left-back is former Premier League and Europa League winner Ashley Young, having joined the club from Everton in the summer at the age of 40. “He’s a real good character and a top person to have around,” Davis said. “He knows when to switch it on, especially in training when everyone needs to dial in. He’s the one that’s getting everyone going with the experience he’s had and such a good career. “He’s always helping the boys out no matter what position, where you’ve got to be with positioning and all that kind of stuff. He even joined in being a midfielder for one of the times and he was incredible at that as well, he just knows the game like the back of his hand. He’s been really good around the group and I know he will all season.” On reported interest from Nottingham Forest over the summer, Davis said: “That’s not up to me off the pitch. I was focused on everything I could be to get this club back up to the Premier League. “I had all eyes on being here this year, doing everything I can to push everyone at the club to get back where the club belongs. That’s all my focus was all summer. “I had the rest time and summer to switch off and then when I came back in, all my focus was on trying to get the club back up and keep pushing as a player.”
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