Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy says he is not thinking too much about getting Jonny Williams back on loan from Crystal Palace, while recent triallist Jack Collison is training with Championship rivals Birmingham City as he considers a short-term deal at Portman Road.

Williams impressed during an end-of-season loan at Portman Road earlier this year, but new Palace boss Neil Warnock has said he wants to take ‘a good look’ at the Welsh international midfielder before deciding whether to allow him out for another temporary spell.

Asked what his gut feeling was on whether Williams may return to Portman Road, Blues boss McCarthy said: “I haven’t got a gut feeling on him. I don’t think about him too often and that’s because we’re doing okay.

“Everybody knows what would happen if somebody said ‘you can take him on loan’. I’d take him. Everybody knows that.

“By the way, so would 23 other Championship clubs. I’m not telling you anything different to what I’ve said all along. He was a sub and got on on Saturday I believe, so he’s part of their plans at the moment.”

After Williams made his second Premier League appearance of the season on Saturday, coming on as a second-half substitute for Dwight Gayle as Palace played out a 0-0 stalemate with Burnley, Warnock said: “I don’t want Jonny to go until I’ve had a good look at him.”

Meanwhile, ex-West Ham midfielder Jack Collison is training with Birmingham City but is ‘mulling over’ the offer of a contract from the Blues, according to Midlanders’ boss Lee Clark.

Collison, 25, spent several weeks training with Town recently and played two games for the U21s. It’s understood Ipswich were only willing to offer him a short-term deal, the midfielder having missed a lot of football with knee problems over the year, with the Welsh international keen to see if he could get something longer term elsewhere.

“He’s just training with us for a couple of days,” Clark told the Birmingham Mail. “I know his agent very well.

“When there is a player like Jack Collison on the open market, he is a terrific footballer, obviously there’s going to be interest.

“But we have just let him come in and train with us, to have a look. There’s nothing imminent in terms of potential signings etcetera.

“I know his agent very well, I have done for many years. We had a conversation and it is to no cost to us. Jack has footed his own expenses to come in and train.”

He added: “I think he has got a deal in the offing from Ipswich, which he is mulling over. Like I said, we’re just having a look.”

Speaking about Collison last week, Town boss Mick McCarthy said: “He has been about. I think he’s got other options and he’s going to go and have a look elsewhere.

“I said I was cool with that, whatever he wants to do. If it works out for him, great. If it doesn’t, I’ll still have a look at him.”