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Town Confirm Ball Signing - Ipswich Town News

Town have confirmed the signing of former QPR midfielder Dominic Ball, as revealed by TWTD earlier this afternoon.

The 26-year-old will join the club on a two-year deal when his Loftus Road contract is up at the end of the month.

"This is a club with a real ambition and I am delighted to be here,” Ball told iFollow Ipswich.

"I have worked with the manager before when I was a youngster at Spurs. I’m looking forward to working with him again and learning more about his concepts and ideas.

"I want to get out there on the pitch in front of the fans because it’s a great stadium and a huge club.

"The first thing the fans should expect from me is hard work. I will give it my all here and I want nothing more than to help the club get promoted.”

Manager Kieran McKenna added: "We’re delighted to have Dom on board. He has a good level of experience and he also has a fantastic character. He has been highly regarded at every club he has been at, and he lives his life to a high level of professionalism.

"Dom is also a very mature player who understands the game well. He can break play up and distribute the ball well. He is also versatile and brings a lot of attributes to the squad.”

Ball left Loftus Road at the end of the season having spent three years with the West Londoners and will join the Blues on a free transfer. Primarily a defensive midfielder Ball can also operate at centre-half or at right-back.

The Welwyn Garden City-born schemer was a youth player with Watford before moving on to Tottenham’s academy, where Blues boss McKenna was a coach.

Ball, who is 6ft 2in tall, spent time on loan at Cambridge United and Rangers - where he won the Scottish Championship title and Scottish Cup during 2015/16 - before leaving White Hart Lane for Rotherham for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2016.

Capped by Northern Ireland at U15, U16, U17, U19 and U21 levels and England at U19 and U20, Ball had stints on loan at Peterborough and Aberdeen while with the Millers.

Last season Ball made 15 starts and eight sub appearances for the Superhoops, scoring once.

In total, he made 74 starts and 25 sub appearances while at Loftus Road, scoring three times.

Ball, who has a degree from the Open University in Business Studies, recently published a book, From Winning Teams to Broken Dreams, relating his experiences and those of five fellow young players as they sought to make a career in football.

Proceeds from the book are being donated to Sarcoma UK, a charity supporting research into the bone cancer which claimed the life of one of the youngsters, Spencer McCall, who died aged 26.

TWTD's sister QPR site LoftForWords was disappointed to see him move on with their lengthy tribute concluding: "I’m disappointed he’s been released and would have kept him on for another year as an excellent bench option on a budget.

"His attitude and commitment to the club and the cause has been exemplary, absolutely first class, since the moment he got here.

"Being a professional footballer at this level, representing a club like QPR, really matters and mattered to him.”

Ball becomes Town's second signing of the summer following the addition of striker Freddie Ladapo on Monday.

The acquisition of Ball would suggest loanee Tyreeq Bakinson won't be returning on a permanent basis.

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