'It's up to him to stake a claim' - McKenna on Simpson
Tyreece Simpson (centre) was recalled by Ipswich Town in January following an 11-goal loan spell at Swindon. His current deal expires this summer, but the club do hold the option to extend that by a further 12 months. - Credit: PA
Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says it's 'not impossible' that teenage striker Tyreece Simpson gets into the side during the second half of the campaign.
Academy graduate Simpson was due to be on loan at Swindon Town for the duration of this season, but after scoring 11 goals for the promotion-chasing Robins he was recalled to Portman Road on January 23.
McKenna said that if a 'contractual issue' could quickly be resolved then the 19-year-old would have been loaned out again before the transfer window shut.
Deadline day came and went though and Simpson remains in Suffolk to compete with first team attackers Macauley Bonne, James Norwood, Joe Pigott, Kayden Jackson, Conor Chaplin, Bersant Celina and Sone Aluko.
"Look, it's not impossible that he could play for us," said McKenna. "So it's not impossible that he plays first team football in the second half of the season.
"He's been training with us a good amount this week. He's going to be playing some minutes with the Under-23s at times in the next week or two.
"It's a situation between the club and Tyreece's representation and Tyreece where there are discussions going on about his long-term future and his role at the club going forward.
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"Obviously we hope those discussions can progress well. We want Tyreece to be here in the long-term. Obviously it wasn't possible in the end for him to go out again before the end of January so it gives us another good player in the door and gives us a chance to have a closer look at him and to work with him in training.
"We'll make sure he still gets some match minutes (with the U23s). It's up to him, while he's in the door, to stake a claim for minutes in the first team as well as he can."