Ipswich Town loanee Tom Lawrence admits he is in the dark over his future having still not heard from parent club Leicester City.
The 23-year-old forward has been the one big bright spot in an otherwise highly frustrating season for the Blues, producing a string of dazzling displays and 10 goals – most of them spectacular.
Blues boss Mick McCarthy has intimated that the Welsh international is destined for bigger things next season, but Lawrence is not sure where he will end up.
Asked if he’d heard from the Foxes – who are in a Premier League relegation scrap less than 12 months after their historic title success – Lawrence replied: “Not as far as I know.
“You would have thought they’d have got in contact, but they haven’t so... We’ll have to wait and see what happens. I just get on with it. People at this club have welcomed me well.”
The former Manchester United youth team player made one FA Cup start and three Premier League substitute appearances in his debut season at The King Power Stadium and spent the 2015/16 campaign on loan at Championship clubs Cardiff and Blackburn.
Leicester recently sacked manager Claudio Ranieri and caretaker boss Craig Shakespeare is set to stay in charge until the end of the season.
“That was a bit of a strange one,” said Lawrence. “It was very harsh I thought, but football is crazy these days.”
With another year left on his contract, he added: “I’ll wait and see what Leicester have got to say and I’ll go from there. You never know what’s going to happen. I can’t predict my future.
“I thought I could give them something this season, but obviously they thought different. If they want me to stay, hopefully I could give them something next year.”
McCarthy has virtually conceded that Lawrence will be out of the Blues’ price range should he be available this summer. As a result, some fans have suggested that players who are definitely going to be part of the squad next season should get game-time ahead of him over the remaining 10 games.
“That’s the good thing about football, everybody has got opinions – and generally most of them are wrong,” quipped McCarthy.
“I get that argument. I also get that the first time I did it, and we didn’t play well and win, there’d be people saying; ‘Where the f*** is Tom Lawrence? We’ve got Tom Lawrence on loan, we’re paying that amount of money and we’re not playing him’.
“The same bloke (who is currently saying don’t play him) would be the one left whinging like a fool that he wasn’t on the pitch.
“As usual, I’ll do what I see is fit and right and what I want to do.”
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