Jordan Spence wants to be part of a successful future at Ipswich Town, with the Premier League the ultimate aim, but is refusing to look too far ahead.

The 27-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Blues earlier this month, becoming manager Mick McCarthy’s first signing of the summer, having impressed with his performances after joining as a free agent in the January transfer window.

Spence made 17 appearances for the Blues, having been without a club for the first half of last season, and hopes to kick-on this term.

The former West Ham youth team player, who was released after MK Dons’s relegation from the Championship in May 2016, said: “I have been moving about quite a lot and I have had brief spells of stability so I have got into the mindset where I would rather focus on short-term targets and not get too far ahead of myself.

“I think if you do that, you can sometimes become complacent. I want to grow with this thing and push it as far as I can, but I won’t be looking too far into the distance.

“It’s nice though to have some stability after last year, given what I faced in the off-season and the start of last season.”

Spence made seven Premier League appearances for West Ham, in between a clutch of loan moves, and finally left the Irons to join MK Dons in August 2014.

That was a step back but Spence remains ambitious and has lofty aims.

“The competitive edge comes from the players, it has to first and foremost, and everyone wants to pit their wits at the highest end of football,” he explained.

“The Championship is just an extension now of the Premier League, given the sides in there and their financial power, but I’d be the first to say I would like to play in the Premier League.

“To do that, we have got to start by making Ipswich one of the top sides in the Championship.

“They have always competed at the right end of the Championship more often than not, and hopefully last season was just a blip.”

He added: “I think we saw a lot of things we liked last season and certain things we did not, and it is about drilling down the good, and avoiding situations that didn’t please us.

“That process will probably be undertaken a few weeks from now.

“The main concentration initially is to come back fit, get some new additions and build a team spirit.”