O'Neil: Palacios an Incredible Signing By the Club - Ipswich Town News

Town manager Gary O’Neil says Exequiel Palacios is an incredible signing for the Blues, the Argentina World Cup winner having completed his move from Bayer Leverkusen last night.

The 27-year-old has signed a deal to the summer of 2030, the clubs having agreed a fee of €22.5 million (£19.2 million) plus a further €5 million (£4.3 million) in add-ons. Leverkusen are understood to be due a 10 per cent sell-on going forward.

“He’s a talented boy and has obviously had some huge success over the last few years, club and national level,” O’Neil said.

“An incredible signing by the football club, the work that went in from everybody, all summer really, to try and attract people to the project and to what we’re trying to build.

“And you can feel the belief around the place just constantly growing and constantly improving not only because of the additions, but also the work that the boys are doing that have been here for a very long time.

“The Dara O’Sheas, Jacob Greaves, Leif Davis, many, many more. The good work that’s gone on over the last eight weeks from everybody involved has left us in a place where we believe we can do something special this year.”

The Blues boss says fans are likely to get their first look at perhaps the biggest name signing in the club’s history at Manchester United: “I’m sure you’ll see him on Sunday. I’m sure you’ll see him.”

As Town came back with bids over the last few weeks, the move started to have an inevitability about it and O’Neil says he was never in any doubt that Palacios would sign

“No, I knew he was coming,” he said. “Probably the more challenging bit was agreeing club-to-club, I would guess.

“The moment I spoke to the boy, I could tell he was desperate to come and play for the football club, which shows have far the club has come and the journey it’s been on, and everyone who has played a part in it should be really proud.

“But it doesn’t stop, we don’t rest at that, this is only the beginning now, so we need to make sure that we use all of this to continue to push and keep trying to raise the ceiling higher than it’s been.

“But he’s a fantastic addition, excited to work with him, excited for the group that we add another layer of strength to us, and we’ll need it. It’s a long 38-game season, cup games as well. We’re going to need as many bodies as we can.

“We’re trying to make sure we’re well covered in every position with quality, with experience, with youth, with athleticism, trying to cover everything that the Premier League will test and Pala gives us real quality in the middle of the pitch.”

Asked why he believes Palacios wanted to move to Town, O’Neil said: “He wants to test himself in the Premier League, and I understand why, it's the best league in the world, the most challenging league in the world.

“As I say, he's obviously had huge successes. He's an unbelievably talented footballer, but now he wanted to come and test himself in the Premier League.

“And we spoke to him about the project, we spoke to him about how the team was going to play, how he fitted it, how his role would help us.

“And we had a real good alignment on how we felt we could move forward together as a football club and as a talented footballer.

“So let's see. We're going to do a lot of work with him, the lads have had seven, eight weeks of good work and understanding, tactical stuff and obviously Palacios will be slightly behind on that. But he definitely brings a desire to win.

“He’s South American, I've worked with a lot of them. They bring an unbelievable enthusiasm for the game, passion, desperate to win. So all of those qualities that we're going to need, he brings.”

Does the signing make a statement to the rest of the division? Will it help attract further additions before the window closes next Tuesday?

“I don’t know,” O’Neil reflected. “I try and make a statement at three o’clock on Saturday, if I can, that’s the biggest opportunity for me and the team to let people know where we’re at.

“The other stuff people will read into, or not. I think our exam paper comes every weekend when the whistle blows and we see where we’re at.

“There’s just a real focus and determination to go there and back up what has been a decent start for us.”

O’Neil says the ambition which attracted him to Town has also helped sell it to the signings.

“I spoke about my opportunity to come here in the summer, and obviously there were opportunities for me in the past to return to the Premier League. But they didn’t feel quite right,” he continued.

“I was in a job that I was really enjoying in France and I wasn’t going to jump out for anything but the ambition that this place has, the support they give coaches and the direction of travel.

“And I think you’re seeing that from players as well, for a newly promoted club to be able to attract some of the players we have, proven Premier League players in Issa [Diop] and Sasa [Lukic] and some players from all around the world.

“So I’m really grateful for the owners’ backing. I know they’re committed to making this club as special as they can.

“And we’ve had a really good go in the window to make ourselves competitive, which is needed, by the way, if you look at the recent history of teams that are promoted from the Championship.

“You need to improve your squad fairly significantly to give yourself the best chance of being competitive in the Premier League.”

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