Town manager Kieran McKenna felt transfer deadline day was the right opportunity to bring in another goalkeeper following the acquisition of Alex Palmer from West Bromwich Albion.
Palmer signed a three-and-a-half year deal to become the Blues’ fourth and final arrival of the January transfer window on Monday and could make his debut against Coventry City in the FA Cup on Saturday.
The 28-year-old’s signing comes after Christian Walton suffered a groin strain against Liverpool and Aro Muric’s poor form, opening the door for the Baggies glovesman to move to Portman Road.
McKenna says Palmer, who has joined for an initial £2 million, is somebody who he has been aware of for a while and says is ready to have an immediate impact in Suffolk.
"We’re pleased to bring him in, we’ve known about him for a while as everybody has,” the Town boss said. "He’s a really good, experienced goalkeeper in the Championship over the last few years and of course played against us last year so he’s somebody that has been on the radar for a while.
"We felt it was the right time and the right stage to bring in another goalkeeper to the unit and he certainly strengthens that department.
"He’s fitted into the group really well, it helps that he knows some of the players already, especially Conor [Townsend] and Dara O’Shea who he was in the youth team with [at West Brom]. He’s fitted in straight away and he’ll travel with us for the game this weekend.”
The Blues are expected to make changes for this weekend’s FA Cup tie, with McKenna stating that Palmer is in contention to start at Coventry on Saturday.
"We’ll make the decision on tomorrow for what is right for the team and the group and we’ll do that for every game,” he said.
"With Christian out, the department was shorter with just Aro and Cieran Slicker who is very talented but hasn’t played as many senior games so we felt it was important to add to that department either way.
"Alex coming in gives us another experienced goalkeeper and strengthens the unit and gives us the option to make the decisions we think will be best for the team for each game.”
Asked further on Palmer’s main attributes, McKenna added: "He’s certainly a good communicator and that’s one of his strengths and something he can bring to the team. We want all the players to bring all their main strengths and utilise it in the team.
"We’ve got different qualities in the positions, even in our goalkeeper department. Christian’s got different qualities to Aro and different specialisms. He’s got different qualities and specialisms to Alex and to Cieran Slicker.
"We just expect each of them to bring the very best of themselves and bring those qualities to the team. I’m sure Alex is going to look to do that when he gets his opportunities.”
Palmer’s arrival appears to be a blow to Aro Muric, who initially dropped out of the side in late December but returned against Southampton following Walton’s injury.
Town turned to the transfer market after Muric suffered more mistakes against the Saints, but McKenna says the Kosovo international has taken the decision well.
"Aro has been good in training,” he stressed. "Of course we spoke to all the goalkeepers and they all realised even just from a numbers perspective with Christian being out for the next eight weeks or so and with the importance of the next 14 games to the football club in the next four months, we couldn’t take any chances in terms of strength of the goalkeeper options available.
"All the goalkeepers were aware of the reasons why we felt like we needed to strengthen the department. We wanted to strengthen it as strongly as possible in terms of a goalkeeper who is ready to come in and compete to play minutes and compete for the shirt.
"All the goalkeepers fully understand that situation and all know at this level we need to be as strong as possible in each position with as much competition as possible. They’re all ready to take on that competition.”