Town have confirmed the signing of striker Paul Taylor from Peterborough United. The 24-year-old has put pen to paper on a three—year deal.
Taylor told the club site: "I feel ready for the challenge here and this is a great move for me.
"Looking around the facilities here, it’s a fantastic club, a massive club and I can’t wait to get going now.
"I spoke to the manager and he told me of the plans he had for Ipswich and I want to be part of it.
"The talks have been going on for a day or so, I just left that to my agent and I’m just pleased now that it’s all sorted out and I’m an Ipswich Town player.
"Peterborough were great for me. They helped me develop as a player and now I feel I can continue that development at Ipswich.”
Earlier in the week the Blues agreed a fee previously reported to be around £1.75 million for Taylor and Posh team-mate George Boyd with the vast majority of that figure relating to the Liverpudlian.
Reports this evening suggest that the fee for Taylor will increase to £2.5 million after top-ups with Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony appearing to confirm that the cash his club could ultimately receive is higher than has generally been claimed in a series of tweets: "Final word on [Paul Taylor]. 18 months ago we took a punt, spent £5k on him, he delivered for Posh and we got his career going again.
"He moves on for millions of pounds with nine months left on his contract. All the best to him and to his new club who conducted business in great manner."
Taylor played youth football with Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City before moving on to Conference North side Vauxhall Motors, joining Chester City, then in League Two, on loan in the summer of 2008.
After he had made two starts and seven sub appearances, his Chester loan was terminated with news subsequently emerging that he had tested positive for cocaine and as a result he was banned for six months.
He later admitted he made errors of judgement in his youth: ”The cocaine thing was stupid. It was my 21st birthday and I was with friends. It was only one night but it was a mistake and you learn from your mistakes."
The 5ft 7in tall frontman joined Belgian side Montegnée on his return to football, doing well enough to earn a move to Anderlecht in December 2009.
A loan spell at Charleroi followed and in March 2011, without him appearing for Anderlecht, he joined Posh after impressing while on trial.
Last season Taylor netted 12 goals in 38 starts and nine sub appearances. This year he has scored twice — including one in Tuesday's 3-2 Capital One Cup defeat to Reading — in five games.