Town target Joel Ward will sign a four-year deal with Crystal Palace on Monday, according to reports. The 22-year-old Portsmouth defender or midfielder was understood to be weighing up a move to the Eagles or one of other interested parties but now appears to finally have made his choice.

Ward is believed to be due at Selhurst Park on Monday to undergo a medical and to put pen to paper on a deal for an undisclosed fee understood to be in the region of £450,000.

On Wednesday, TWTD reported that Palace were strong contenders for Ward’s signature, however, with the wages they were offering believed to be significantly below the contracts available elsewhere, it had been thought Ward would instead join one of the other chasing clubs. Palace’s relative proximity to his family in Portsmouth is likely to have played a major part in his decision.

Leeds, previously understood to be the frontrunners, dropped out of the race having failed to raise the cash to finance the deal, while Burnley, Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday were the other interested parties.

Ward opting not to join the Blues will be a blow to manager Paul Jewell, who has been targeting the one-time Bournemouth loanee since January when a bid was accepted but personal terms turned down.

In March, Ward was at Portman Road to talk about a loan move before the deadline but Pompey’s administrator pulled the plug on the switch with the crisis club then still having a chance of salvaging their Championship status.

Photo: Action Images

StanwayBlue added 21:43 - May 25 He is nothing to do with us now. Can we stop talking about him?
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buryblue77 added 21:50 - May 25 h32, don't stop caring, we can never give up. It is a worry that we can't compete with CP, but hopefully it's because the player wants to stay close to home and not because we're run by Colonel Clegg!! Ask any military man(private through to Sergeant rank) what they think of higher ranking officers and many of them will say the same thing and it often wont be quite so positive. Well, there you go, we have one of our own officer boys in charge and more often than not they don't have a clue about the real world.

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moggasnotebook added 22:09 - May 25 I wonder if some of the ignorant, pathetic, juvenile comments on here over the last 2 or 3 weeks have been read by, or relayed to, Joel Ward??? Anyone read comments on Palace sites? Making it clear how much THEIR fans were hoping for him? If we are not careful we are going to get what we deserve? Short sighted players with no actual long term love for the club? Get a grip, we need better and have to support the club accordingly

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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 22:13 - May 25 h32 - i wont lie and say that im not disappointed, cos Ward is the TYPE pf player i would like to see us sign, however if this is true then the feedback we appear to be getting is that Ward chose Palace for two reasons: 1 - geography - no one can do much about that unless ME moves us to Birmingham 2 - possibly the fact that CP offered a 4 year deal - i can see the attraction of this and the benefit of offering it but are 4 year deals the best idea at the minute, with the fair play rulings coming in?? I dont know. If Ward turns out to be a good signing then yes probably, if he doesnt we are then stuck with him or looking to pay him off. Does Ward's decision mean that the managers/CEO's at Blackpool, Leeds, Burnley and Sheff Wed are all c**p too ?? He also has apparently said he was impressed with PJ and ME. Havent heard that about Warnock/Holloway etc If i am putting my football head on i (if i were Ward) personally would have jumped at joining Holloway at Blackpool out of all the clubs interested , so maybe we were always on a loser with this guy and it was always going to be the nearest club. Also this is one signing, and its 25th May not 25th July. Lets just wait and see shall we.

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moggasnotebook added 22:18 - May 25 So many posts about this story where people are just guessing about Ward's attitude and being a money grabber. Can anyone back up their negative comments with facts? Or have proof?
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Sindre94 added 22:23 - May 25 moggasnotebook Good point
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Arthur added 22:27 - May 25 Ha No Sh*t anyone else we are "targeting"? Wake me up when the season starts
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moggasnotebook added 22:34 - May 25 I for one hope that he still signs for us - holloway and warlock rate him.............
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alpblue added 22:38 - May 25 Well cant say im surprised, but the fact we cant compete for signatures with any other club in the league makes me wonder if the club has any ambition left coz im not feeling much, cant wait for the club comments on this one!
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Lightningboy added 22:41 - May 25 Not bothered...like I said before,seems to be a jack of all trades and master of none...shame we've wasted time on someone who clearly wasn't that interested 5 months ago. Glad this story will be getting put to bed now..let's find better.
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Tractorog added 22:45 - May 25 He obviously likes being relegated.
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runningout added 22:54 - May 25 too many pathetic cases of sour grapes on here... come on, give your heads a shake and get real... whoever kept this thread running so long needs to take a look at themselves
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TownOnTheUp added 23:00 - May 25 Better players out there than him.
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itfc1981 added 23:12 - May 25 Clegg could work for Cameron at this rate.
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alliedaz added 23:12 - May 25 rip ipswich no one wants us
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TimmyH added 23:20 - May 25 Ipswich's stock continues to fall...at a high when Keane took over but has fallen and continues to do so and at this rate with Town continuing to tread water in the Championship other names are unlikely to want to come here. Saying that glad this saga is over...gone on far too long.
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WorcesterBlue added 23:28 - May 25 Caddis?
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KiwiBlue2 added 23:31 - May 25 There seems to have been a massive amount of time and effort spent on getting someone who, it appears, would not be an automatic choice to start games. While utlity players are useful I think we need to concentrate on getting specialists into the key defensive positions. I look forward to reading about effort being made to do just that. To that extent Pearce would have been more worthy of the time and effort than Ward....... .

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michaeldownunder added 01:14 - May 26 If ward signs for Palace what about trying to get David Wright back here? Full back that can also play deep midfield and fill in at c/half if needed
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KiwiBlue2 added 06:03 - May 26 Yes Michael........ I agree entirely. D Wright should never have been let go. I had the pleasure of seeing his header win a game against Derby late Oct 09 which ended that dreadful streak of about 14 games without a win. His header and the result justified the cost of my trip......
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Lukeybluey added 06:29 - May 26 i'd say try and bring in darcy blake. never in the cardiff team though ive always been impressed when he comes on. Solid at the back.
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Lukeybluey added 06:32 - May 26 hardly suprising now though really. they've got exciting prospects like Zaha and Scannell, not to mention the others in that team. Wo have we got thats young and been developed here playing for our team????
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Dissboyitfc added 07:42 - May 26 KiwiBlue2... very good points,i could not agree more...coyb
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paulnstar added 07:48 - May 26 worcester blue caddis signed 3 yr deal with swindon
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algarvefan added 08:53 - May 26 I'm really surprised that so many of you know that ITFC offered such crap terms that Ward went to Palace, I'm sure you all know the details!!!! Ward himself has chosen to go there and not everyone makes choices in life based purely on money. He has picked Palace from a long list of suitors, get over it and move on.
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