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Ipswich Town: January signing Ben Godfrey on loan from Atalanta addresses past with rivals Norwich City




Ipswich Town defender Ben Godfrey has addressed the elephant in the room regarding his four-year spell at club rivals Norwich City.

The January signing joined the Canaries in January 2016 from York City and earned himself a £20 million move to Everton in 2020 off the back of his performances following 78 appearances across all competitions.

Despite the connections north of the border, the 27-year-old loanee from Serie A side Atalanta, said his focus is on performing as well as he can for the Blues and also admitted his long-standing opinion on Town’s Portman Road.

Ben Godfrey signed for Ipswich Town on loan from Atalanta earlier in the January transfer window. Picture: ITFC
Ben Godfrey signed for Ipswich Town on loan from Atalanta earlier in the January transfer window. Picture: ITFC

He said: “Players move on and things change, coming here was the right decision for my career.

“The Ipswich Town fans have been unbelievable as has everyone here, it was a nice welcome.

“It’s a great stadium to play in, I’ve always thought that even when I was on the other side of things. It’s a good atmosphere and we’ll need them throughout the year, it will be good to see them again against Brighton.

“There’s quite a lot of people that I’ve played with that have moved on, I met some great people there. It’s well-known that I was a Norwich player but that’s football and players move on.

“I’m an Ipswich Town player and my job here is to do the best for this club.”

During Town’s Championship relegation season in the 2018/19 campaign, Norwich went up as league winners.

Having played in both East Anglian derbies that campaign, Godfrey knows how much the rivalry means to the supporters.

He said: “The derby means a lot to people in this area of the country. I remember years ago it being an exciting day to play in the derby games, they’re the games you always want to play in regardless of what team you play for. Derby days are always special.

“The first one that I played in was at Portman Road and we drew 1-1. The second one Norwich won at Carrow Road. They were the two derbies that I played in, both good atmospheres and good days.”

Godfrey’s arrival means he is now the most experienced Premier League player in Kieran McKenna’s squad having played 112 matches in the top flight for both Norwich and Everton, 28 more than the second-most experienced in Kalvin Phillips.

The English defender hopes that his familiarity of the level can count for something as the Blues look to fend off the drop in their first season at this level for 22 years.

He said: “I just got reminded that I’m old! But I’ve got Premier League experience and hopefully I can use a little bit of that to help the boys. I’ve been in relegation fights before at past clubs and if I can use that bit of experience to help the club achieve staying in the Premier League then I’m ready to do that.

“It will be great for me to use those experiences on the pitch and help the boys through it because there will be challenging moments. Hopefully we can achieve that.

“It’s about not getting too high and not getting too low. When you win a game you can’t think it’s going to be like that every week, but when you lose a game you can’t let that shatter your confidence either. You’ve just got to have a plateau of emotions and attack every game with the same mentality.

“Whether you win or lose, you wake up the next day and it’s done and it’s onto the next one. That played a vital part in the seasons that we’ve been successful at Everton in staying up. That’s probably the number one for me.”