Town forward Sindre Walle Egeli believes he has improved in every match he has played and feels he is adapting well to life in the Championship.

The 19-year-old is currently in his first season of English football, having made the switch to Portman Road from Danish side FC Nordsjælland in August for a Championship record £17.5 million fee.

Walle Egeli has played eight matches so far this season and has started five of the last six matches as a right-sided winger in the Blues’ attacking quartet.

Town’s newest young star heaped praise on the management and coaching staff, and says he is happy with the number of minutes that Kieran McKenna is giving him to showcase his ability.

“Very pleased, I think it’s a very good sign,” he said. “I also feel like I’ve grown in every match. I’m very pleased with the game time.

“I always want to play, but I think it’s a very good sign that I’ve trained well and done well in the games that I'm playing this much. I hope it will continue.

“I think it was expected, I wanted to play as much as possible. Hopefully I’ve made a good impression so far.

“He is a top coach. Very good with the players, very good with me and talks a lot to me. Very good also on the pitch tactically, he’s just a top coach.”

Walle Egeli has made no secret of his ultimate dream to play in the Premier League, which was a key factor in his decision to move to the Blues and compete in English football.

Asked what he has made of the Championship, he said: “It’s a tough league, one of the toughest in the world I would say. Very intense, physical, set pieces. It’s a big difference from what I’m used to, but I think I’ve settled and I'm getting more and more used to it.

“I expected it to be physical, but I think it’s probably more physical than I thought it would be. It’s a lot more direct and more focused on running and winning your duels.”

The Norwegian’s first goal involvement for the club came during last weekend’s 4-1 victory against Queens Park Rangers, with the success at Loftus Road also marking Town’s first away win of the season.

It was Walle Egeli who played the cross for George Hirst’s opener, while Hirst’s second goal of the game came after the teenager combined with right-back Darnell Furlong.

“It was a great start, my first goal contribution so it was massive for me,” the winger said. “Of course, a nice way to start the game and I think I grew in that game and built some confidence from that.

“These things take time but I think me and Darnell have already grown quite a good relationship. Away at QPR, the third goal was where I played him on the overlap and we also had some good combinations in the last game which didn’t result in a goal.

“We’re setting each other up well and I think in the future we will even more.”

Asked what would constitute a successful season, Walle Egeli added: “I would say play a lot of minutes and get promotion.

"It’s not really about me scoring this amount of goals or this amount of assists, it’s more about what I can bring to the team and what I can do for the team to be as successful as possible to get promotion.

“I don’t like to stress about [the first goal] because I know it’s going to come, and when it first comes there’s probably going to be a few more.

“But it’s not about me getting the goals, if I can work hard and make Jaden [Philogene] score 20 goals it’s better for the team and I would rather do that.”

Settling into a new country and culture at such a young age was always going to be a challenge that would naturally take time to get used to.

Walle Egeli is grateful to his teammates for helping him adjust as quickly as possible, particularly Jens Cajuste and club captain Dara O’Shea.

“Jens because he’s Swedish, it makes everything easy,” he said. “He’s a very nice guy, a lovely guy and we spend some time outside the training ground also. He’s a really good friend of mine.

“Dara has been fantastic with me. A very good leader, a very good captain and has a lot of respect from me and the rest of the guys in the team. I actually took over his apartment, he’s a great guy.

“I like it a lot. I live down by the waterfront, it’s a nice, chilled area, so that’s what I'm used to. I really like it.”

On his love for the Blue Army and Portman Road atmosphere, he added: “It’s crazy, the best I’ve ever played at, for sure. It’s something different from what I'm used to.

“The fans really back you, they’re proper good fans I would say. I’m very thankful for them.”

Photo: TWTD