Ipswich Town skipper Luke Chambers hopes the club start contract talks with in-form striker David McGoldrick earlier they did with him last season.

Blues owner Marcus Evans tends to include a clause in the contract of all his players that gives the club the option to extend their stay on the same terms by a further 12 months when the current deal expires.

In order to enact that clause they have a certain date to notify the player by. Last season, Town left it until the very last minute before finally speaking to their skipper about his future and negotiating a fresh two-year contract.

Now star striker David McGoldrick, who has five goals to his name already this season, finds himself entering the final few months of his deal.

“He’s been brilliant for us from minute one this season,” enthused Chambers. “He’s someone that, on his day, is one of the best players in the league. “And his future is up in the air a little bit with the year left on his contract.”

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Asked if that is a situation the club should address sooner rather than later, Chambers laughed: “I’m not the one who should talk about contracts really am I? I don’t want to keep going over my situation last year – that’s gone now. It wasn’t a fun six months for me personally though, no.”

Asked if he understood why the club didn’t start negotiations with him until they knew they were safe from relegation, the 31-year-old replied: “I suppose I can see it from that point of view, but it would have been better to have that conversation a lot earlier than we did.

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“It’s hard for me to answer. It’s happened, it’s gone, I’m still here and I never wanted to leave. I don’t know if he (Marcus Evans) wanted me to leave. I don’t think he did.

“It’s his club, it’s the chairman’s club and he runs it how he wants to run it. It’s obviously not going to have the best affect on people if they’ve been a regular for five years to see their contract run down until the last few weeks though.

“There are a few lads sweating because they’ve got 18 months left and are wondering where it leaves them. At the end of the day you have to earn your place at the club and if somebody doesn’t want you then that’s football and you move on.”

He added: “I think everyone has seen how much I care for the club and how much I care about winning games. I’ll do absolutely anything for anyone around the town, speak to anyone, because at the end of the day I’m just a normal guy playing football.”