Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has outlined his plans for new signing Marcus Harness.

The 26-year-old skilful attacker has been a key man for Portsmouth over the last three years, providing 12 goals and six assists last season for a team that finished 10th in League One.

Town have been able to take advantage of the fact he was heading into the final year of his Fratton Park deal though, prising him away for a fee of around £600k and sending striker Joe Pigott in the other direction on loan.

“We’re really happy," said McKenna. "He really stood out to our recruitment team and also to us as a coaching team. We looked at a lot of League One matches last year and saw him as someone who is a really good fit for our system.

“Has a lot of different attributes. Technically he's very, very good. He's very good taking a ball between the lines, driving forward, taking people on one-v-one and he has a good record of scoring and making goals.

“Physically he's good too. He's dynamic, a good runner, agile.

"And, probably most importantly, he’s hungry.

“Speaking with him, he’s at an age where he wants to go to the next level. He wants to grow in his career and take the next steps. That’s where a lot of our dressing room is, that’s where the club is, so I think he’s a good fit.”

Harness has played most of his football as a right-winger, but has also played centrally and on the left.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich Town have signed Marcus Harness from Portsmouth on a three-year deal.Ipswich Town have signed Marcus Harness from Portsmouth on a three-year deal. (Image: ITFC)

Asked if he had a position in mind for the former Burton man, McKenna said: “We have a couple in mind for him. He’s very strong as an inside forward, so I think he can play in either of those positions behind the central striker.

“We’ve seen him play very, very well as a central attacking midfielder behind two central strikers and we also know that he can operate touchline wide.

“He’s played wide on the left earlier in his career. He’s equally capable playing on both sides we feel. He's versatile.

“We’ve spoken to Marcus about his role. Obviously we don’t want to give too much away because the season’s coming up, but we’ve got a couple of base roles for him that we see him being very, very productive in.”