Championship record buy Sindre Walle Egeli says Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna ‘pushes you really hard’ in training – and that’s making the Norwegian teenager even better.

Winger Egeli, a £17.5m end-of-summer arrival, has settled in quickly at Portman Road, establishing himself as the starter on the right of Town’s attack.

He’s played 19 games in all competitions – 13 of which were starts – and bagged two goals, with two assists.

And the talented 19-year-old credits McKenna with improving his game already.

“The manager is very intense in the training sessions,” he told the club programme. “He pushes you really hard and he works with you to adjust the things that you have to do better, so he really develops you and he’s a great guy who you can talk to.

“As a coach, that’s also very important, that you can talk to your players and the players can talk to you, and you can easily do that with him.

Sindre Walle Egeli has two goals and two assists for Town so far 

Egeli continued: “Everything so far has been very good. I’ve settled down. I’ve got to know my team-mates, I am in a nice apartment in a nice area, so I really, really like the town and the club.

“I think I settled maybe a little bit faster than expected, to be honest. We have great people in and around the club, so I think it’s been a quite natural thing that’s happened for me to settle in so fast.”

And, with good form for Town, Egeli is hoping to catch the eye of Norway national boss Ståle Solbakken, who will lead the country – and superstar striker Erling Haaland – to the World Cup this summer.

Though Egeli is a regular – and prolific – at U21 level for his country, he only has one senior cap to date.

Walle Egeli is hoping to play for Norway at this summer’s World Cup, with superstar Erling Haaland 

“Norway is becoming a very good national team,” he enthused. “What’s exciting is that there are very good players there now, but also so many young players are coming through.

“I think the future is very bright for Norway to be honest. Going to the World Cup would be massive. It would be a dream come true.

“I think probably ten years ago, I said World Cup 2026, I would like to be there.

“So I just have to perform for Ipswich and we have to perform as a team. This is the most important thing, my focus on the club.

“If that goes well, then hopefully I have good chances to go to the World Cup.”