The summer transfer window slammed shut last night without Ipswich Town engaging in any eleventh-hour activity, leaving defender Tommy Smith to hail Blues manager Mick McCarthy’s recruitment drive.

The Town boss and his backroom team have brought in 12 players since May’s defeat to Norwich, in the play-off semi-finals, and the likes of Jonas Knudsen, Ryan Fraser, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Brett Pitman have already paid immediate dividends.

Out in pre-season went Paul Anderson, the Hunt brothers (Noel and Stephen) and Richard Chaplow, while Tyrone Mings brought in £8m, plus Fraser and Pitman, from Bournemouth.

Highly-rated Mings was the only significant departure from Portman Road, while the majority of the new faces have substantially increased the quality in the ranks, as Ipswich aim to go one step further than last season.

Smith remains an integral part of McCarthy’s plans and was joined in the back-four for the second half of Saturday’s defeat to Brighton, by new Polish defender Piotr Malarcyzk.

The 24-year-old is a relative unknown, having spent his entire career in his homeland, and, along with Tommy Oar and Jonas Knudsen, is another player to arrive as something of an unknown quantity.

Smith and his team-mates certainly had limited knowledge of Malarcyzk, having only met the former Korona Kielce defender on the morning of the 3-2 home reverse to the Seagulls.

“We know as soon as the public know anything,” said Smith.

“His recruitment policy has been second to none, the scouting system behind it.

“They don’t just scout players for their playing ability but for their character as well, finding out how they are as people and whether they fit in with what we’ve got here.

“The additions we’ve made this season has shown just how good he is in the transfer market.

“They (the club) do they research and know they’re going to be good characters.

“The majority of players who have come in know somebody in the squad already, so that helps them to settle in.”

McCarthy has had a few disappointments in the transfer market, the likes of Anthony Wordsworth, Frank Nouble, and Cameron Stewart never really working out.

And another player to fall in that bracket, Alex Henshall, was yesterday told he could leave the club.

McCarthy said of the winger: “Alex is available for transfer. He is not going to get in front of the other lads here and it’s time he moved on. I’ve told him that.”