Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has explained why midfield duo Dominic Ball and Idris El Mizouni were absent from the squad for tonight's 3-1 friendly win against Southend United.
Summer signing Ball missed last weekend's 1-1 draw at Millwall with a 'knock' and wasn't involved again this evening ahead of Saturday's League One opener against Bolton.
"It's a knock on his ankle that he picked up in training last week before the Millwall game," said McKenna. "He trained yesterday but is still feeling the effects of it a little bit. He's going to take a little more time than we first thought."
In Ball's absence, Cameron Humphreys and Rekeem Harper started the game in central midfield with Sam Morsy and Lee Evans replacing them late on.
That leaves El Mizouni well down the pecking order.
"Idris is someone we're speaking to at the moment about his pathway for the season," said McKenna.
"He has lots of loan interest. Obviously he's a very good player. There's nothing confirmed or very, very, very close at the moment, but he's someone we're speaking to about his current situation of getting games this year. There might be an update on that in the next few days."
Leif Davis became Town's sixth summer signing yesterday, the left-back joining from Leeds for a seven-figure fee.
Asked if any more new additions were close, McKenna said: "Before the weekend I would say extremely doubtful. This is the squad we have going into Saturday and I'm happy with what we have."
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