Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says he has been 'really analytical' when it's come to the summer signings he has made so far.

The Blues boss has brought in midfielder Dominic Ball, striker Freddie Ladapo and left-back Greg Leigh following the expiration of their contracts at QPR, Rotherham and Morecambe respectively, as well as forward Tyreece John-Jules on a season-long loan from Arsenal.

“One of the main benefits of the four months I had in charge at the end of last season was really getting a good look at the squad and the league," said the Northern Irishman.

"I was trying to be really analytical and thoughtful about what qualities we were going to need to be successful in this league. I was looking at what the qualities were in our squad and where we needed to add in the summer.

“There was a real thorough process in identifying the qualities that we wanted to add. It’s not just randomly adding good players, it’s adding qualities that we need in the team and the squad.

“The recruitment team do a lot of work and we do a lot of work as a coaching staff. The players that come in will each have 20/30 different references. That’s where (assistant manager) Martyn Pert comes in because he knows everybody!

“There’s been a lot of work going in to making sure we get the right people that can improve certain aspects of the squad.

“There are still a couple of areas we want to improve and we’ll look to do that before the end of the summer."

Blues chief executive Mark Ashton said: “The fans get excited about new signings - and rightly so.

"But the first thing we had to do this summer was some housekeeping and making sure one or two players had their contracts extended. I’m delighted Wes (Burns), Woolfy (Luke Woolfenden) and Cam Humphreys have done that. It was important we got that bit right first.

“When we came here last year we had no recruitment team at all, which is why it was probably a little bit wild (Ipswich signed 19 players in the 2021 summer transfer window under Paul Cook's management).

"We knew some players would work and some wouldn’t, but we had no alternative because we had no recruitment team in place.

“Now we do. We have Sam Williams and a group of analysts around him. It’s amazing the in-depth work that goes into recruitment.

“That’s what I love about Kieran. He’s very calm, he won’t rush. He will take his time to do his work the best he can.

“There’s still work to do but we’re calmly working through it."