Departing defender Aaron Cresswell has thanked Town’s fans, manager Mick McCarthy and owner Marcus Evans for their support during his three years at Portman Road. The 24-year-old completed a £4 million switch to West Ham this evening, signing a five-year deal.
"I would like to put on record my sincere thanks to the owner, manager and fans at Ipswich for their fantastic support over the past three years,” Cresswell told the club website.
"I’m sad to be leaving Ipswich Town as I’ve built up a great relationship with everyone at the club, however it’s a huge opportunity to play in the Premier League and ‎a challenge I’m looking forward to taking up.
"The manager and players have been brilliant with me and I genuinely wish them and the club every success for the season ahead. I'll be keeping an eye on their results.
"I look forward to seeing some familiar faces in July ‎when West Ham play at Portman Road during pre-season.”
Coincidentally, West Ham are at Portman Road for their first friendly of pre-season on Wednesday 16th July (KO 7.45pm).
Cresswell's former club Tranmere Rovers are entitled to 20 per cent of the profit the Blues have made on the £420,000 they paid for him following his summer 2011 switch to Portman Road.
A Football League tribunal set a compensation figure of an initial £240,000 plus milestone clauses, with only a £100,000 payment on promotion to the Premier League not triggered.
Cresswell, named in the Championship Team of Year for 2013/14, made 138 appearances for Town, all starts, scoring seven goals. He will join up with the West Ham squad for their training camp in France tomorrow.