McKenna being quizzed for Cristiano Ronaldo tips at his new club

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Ipswich Town wing-back Wes Burns has revealed that the club’s attacking players are asking Kieran McKenna for tips on how Cristiano Ronaldo trains.

McKenna worked with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for three months before taking the job at Portman Road in December.

The 35-year-old worked as an assistant to Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before taking his first managerial post with the League One club who have huge pedigree and expectations.

Twelve games into the role and McKenna has got the Tractor Boys fighting for a play-off spot with 11 League One games remaining. They are ninth in the table and five points off the play-off places.

The Northern Irishman has clinched 24 points from a possible 36 after being appointed to replace Paul Cook. He’s won seven, drawn two and lost three, from the 12 matches played.

Burns has spoken to the Mail about the positive influence McKenna has already had on the club. The former Manchester United coach has overhauled Ipswich’s style of play, adopting three-at-the-back with marauding wing-backs.

Burns, who plays in the right wing-back role, has benefitted from the club’s appointment and has started every single game since McKenna has arrived at the club.

The Welshman has spoken about how the squad has looked to tap into McKenna’s recent experience of working with some of the biggest stars in the game.

Burns said: “He’s been brilliant from day one. You could tell straight away that he’d had all the experience of working with some great managers over the years.

“There are little things that he has tweaked around the place that have helped us massively as a team.

“Obviously we are picking his brains given all the top players he has worked with.

“I know the strikers are asking for little tips that he has learned from working with Cristiano Ronaldo – for a short time – but also Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood.

“They’re all picking up little things up that they used to do in training and everyone is using that and implementing it in their game now.”

McKenna was kept on by current United interim boss Ralf Rangnick, but he wanted to embark on his own career in management and felt Ipswich was the ideal project for him.

Despite being at Manchester United for five years after leaving Tottenham, Burns says that McKenna doesn’t try and replicate the United ethos at Ipswich.

Burns added: “He has been quite humble. There is the odd occasion when we’re not doing the right thing or people are forgetting to do various things in training, or we are a bit sloppy.

“But he doesn’t say, ‘when I was at Man United, we used to do this and it was brilliant.’ He is very much humble and down to earth and just wants to get the best out of the team.

“He has got so much experience at such a young age and that [his age] if anything really helps us.”