Tom Adeyemi hopes Ipswich Town fans don’t hold his Norwich City past against him.

The 25-year-old midfielder could make his long-awaited Blues debut at QPR on Saturday after finally overcoming the illness and injury which have dogged him since completing a summer switch from Cardiff.

It was up the A140 at the Blues’ bitter rivals where he started his career, playing 17 times for the Canaries after emerging from their youth team, but he’s played for seven different clubs – Bradford, Oldham, Brentford, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds and Rotherham – since then.

“I was born in Milton Keynes then when I was five my dad got a job in Norwich and the family moved there,” he explained. “I joined the club at the age of nine, played one season in League One when I was about 17, then after that I had three loan spells before I was released at 21.

“Norwich had back-to-back promotions, ended up in the Premier League and I probably wasn’t ready. It wasn’t like I felt I shouldn’t have been released.

“I’m happy with the fact I played for a Norwich a few years ago, but now I’m an Ipswich Town player and can’t wait to get started. This was the right club for me with the right manager.

“None of my family are Norwich fans anyway, they are just Tom Adeyemi fans!

“I don’t see that bringing any extra pressure, although other people might look at it that way. I just want to prove myself to the fans like any player does at a new club.”

Adeyemi picked up a mystery virus a week after joining the club, then suffered a calf strain on his return to training. With two outings for the Under-23s under his belt over the international break, he’ll be in the squad at Loftus Road tomorrow.

“Bersant (Celina) was my room-mate in Ireland (pre-season training camp) and he was the first one to go down with the illness so I can only blame it on him!” said Adeyemi. “I don’t think we ever fully got a diagnosis from the blood tests, but once I fought off the virus I was left with a post-viral fatigue type of thing. It was the most frustrating thing ever, but it’s given me more motivation to make an instant impact when I do come into the team.”

He added: “I’m a box-to-box midfielder. I like to impose myself physically and get around the pitch. Last season, at Rotherham, I added a few goals to my game and hopefully that will continue in an Ipswich shirt.”