Town boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that keeper Márton Fülöp has joined West Brom on a free transfer, signing a one-year deal. The Hungarian was left out of the Blues 16 for today’s victory at Bristol City with stories linking him with the Baggies having surfaced earlier in the week.

Jewell said: “He’s gone to West Brom on a free transfer. We wish Márton well but I think David Stockdale was quality today. He made a great save at a vital time and has terrific distribution of the ball.

“We’re a little bit on tenterhooks with David because of the recall, so it’s always a bit of a concern. It’s a chance that we can take and it will work out for us.”

The Blues boss says he expects Fülöp to battle Ben Foster for his place in the side at the Hawthorns: “I don’t know whether he’s going to get in the team ahead of Ben Foster but if you’re going to play second fiddle to someone, you may as well do that in the Premier League.

“His contract’s running out and to be fair to Márton he does want to play and he will push Ben Foster all the way. He’s a good goalkeeper. But it was a deal which we felt was right for us and the player wanted to do it.”

Jewell confirmed that he will be on the search for a replacement: “We’ll be looking for a goalkeeper, so it’s an ongoing situation.”

Arran Lee-Barrett is Town’s other senior keeper, while US U20 international Cody Cropper was recently given a one-year professional contract but has not been allocated a squad number and is not yet thought ready for first team involvement.

Photo: Action Images

Essex_Tractor added 20:19 - Aug 6 Not bothered about him going but on a Free?? Maybe we needed to shift his wages
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Coolpooper added 20:39 - Aug 6 Get Wrighty back for one last pay cheque. He's really good at keeping the bench warm!
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brainbox added 20:40 - Aug 6 Just goes to show what a total plank Keane was....Thank goodness we've got a decent manager now
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broomfield123 added 21:52 - Aug 6 am i correct in saying that leadbetter,dd,edwards were the only ones involved today out of the keane and magilton era. that was a fair cul
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robdaful added 21:57 - Aug 6 No F*cking way!!!!!!!!!! Free transfer, please be a hoax. We could have got about 500,000.
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Jesney_Havoc added 22:04 - Aug 6 Well this is all very well but Mr Fullup is a decent keeper. Our first choice man is a loanee and might be summoned back tp Fullam. Then what happens? I for one consider a keeper to be an all important part of the team. As its the only position that can handle the ball (in the area of course !), I think we'd be a distinct disadvantage without one. But then who am I ?

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dynamicduo added 22:15 - Aug 6 Fulop was worth at least 500k for his performances against arsenal and cardiff, he was a good keeper although Stockdale is a lot better. Let's not get richard wright let's go for youth and get his son(he's in our academy)!!!!
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parkinshair added 22:18 - Aug 6 Stone me. All I said was good luck and he seemed a nice bloke who enjoyed being here. Didn't think it warranted a debate on his merits as a goal keeper!!
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RetroBlue added 22:25 - Aug 6 The time is coming when Clubs can actually save more money by just allowing a player to leave on a freebie (saving on the players wages), than any fee they might have got in when the player is entering the last year of their contract! They get so much bloody stupid money, little wonder so many so called top players are still without clubs right now !!
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clive_baker added 22:33 - Aug 6 £18k p/w over a year is £900k+ we've saved on a bench warmer. What we paid for him means nowt, he was never worth that as an asset. With 1 yr on his contract he was never going to stay on that sort of money and would have left on a free a la Macauley/Norris. Might aswell get rid now and put that £18k p/w to a freebie on a 1 or 2 year deal who will play more (Bullard cough cough). We do need a more able back up than ALB though (and cheaper). Wrighty would be a good signing and add to the feel good factor at town at the moment. Great result today lads, keep it up!

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John added 22:44 - Aug 6 personally, tinhk this is an absolutely disgraceful state of affairs. only senior keeper is allegedy highest earner let him go one year into his contract. great result today, however, completely agree with scowie that it's a sad day for the club when for the first time in 20 years we start the season withouta home grown player in the starting 11.
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Mr_Evans added 22:45 - Aug 6 Leaving on a free is sensible if he was out highest earner and in the last year of his contract. I wouldn't say he was a crap goalkeeper, made some fantastic saves in his time, but I'm not fussed to see him leave. If we could sign Scott Loach it would be great!! Can't see Watford wanting to part with him though.
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marcus139 added 23:07 - Aug 6 I am astonished. A free transfer? To a premiership club? Is roy hodgson an idiot? No. We get a loanee who can leave at a stroke, and give away a keeper who cost a million. Was keanes judgement that bad? Or do we get simon cox in exchange".......
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blues1 added 23:15 - Aug 6 i agree that it would have been nice to get a fee for him but also that as certainly 1 of our highest wage earners, just getting his wages off the budget will help us elsewhere regards potential signings. but please, those people saying we should resign wright. please, dont any of you remember his last spell here? apart from wba away when he had a stormer, he was absolutely awful. so no, we should keep clear. unfortunately all those years of sitting on the bench have taken away his sharpness, and he not the keeper he was. frankly, from being a very good keeper when he 1st here, hes no better than alb, we need better than that

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marcus139 added 23:22 - Aug 6 So we are cutting our losses on fulop then? But it seems that roy hodgson, thinks he is worth wages which are i assume the same as what we pay if not higher. For the premiership? But no fee! It makes no sense.
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LeighOnSeaBlue added 00:07 - Aug 7 Sorry MarcusSG but Fred Barber played one game on loan, how did he endear himself to the crowd and how can you include him as a part of history of ITFC for just one game
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Dog added 01:10 - Aug 7 Sad to see Fulop go. A very good goalie for this division let down by an abysmal defence last season. Let's hope the new goalie, whoever it may be, will have support from a solid defence. A good win away from home but the season starts next week when we see how they line up at home. We need a new goalie, a new centre back a new midfielder and a new winger. At the sam etime we need to ship out the dross, startin with the "Guiness Scotland". I saw him in the Spread Eagle within two hours of the defeat by Swansea and whether or not he was drinking, it was shameful. A happy chap for such a poor performance by an ipswich team. We need our own goalie, lets go and get Joe Lewis from Posh. As for Richard Wright - grow up. All those who think our team is old enough are now clamouring for a bench warmer. He had his chance and he went to Arsenal. He had a second chance, and could not change a shocking defence. McAuley was shocking - good riddance. And yes - i have been out since 13.00 hours on the pop.

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jeffisbent added 01:21 - Aug 7 Good luck to him, but has never been quite good enough at this level. Won't get a sniff at West Brom either
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Skip73 added 02:43 - Aug 7 I think this is a mad move unless we have another keeper in mind because if Schwarzer gets injured Fulham will recall Stockdale. Then where does that leave us?
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SMS added 09:48 - Aug 7 £15000 a week. Good Job Mr Jewell. We are top of the league, we are top of the league.
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tractorboy2434 added 10:22 - Aug 7 Whilst I think it was a good decision to let him go I cannot for the life of me see how we have allowed an international GK with another year on his contract whom we paid 750K for to leave on a free to a Prem club who are awash with cash, that is simply crazy business and there is no other word for it, should have got at least 500K, absolute madness, the lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

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ipswich_is_the_best added 10:36 - Aug 7 Smithys from huddersfield
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broadside added 11:23 - Aug 7 Saw him play alot and always very well, pulling off many very good and occasionally remarkable saves. Twenty four caps for his country and highly rated by Roy Hodgson, whose opinion can't exactly be discounted. Not sure where these frailties people speak of come from. A quality act between the sticks in my opinion. Let's hope we manage to hang on to Stockdale and he doesn't get recalled.

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fourth added 12:45 - Aug 7 Well how many goalkeepers do we have now?
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TractorRoyNo1 added 14:40 - Aug 7 if he isn't going to play then it was good business to get him off our wage bill, we can always find someone to keep the bench warm
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