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

Joetown95 added 10:56 - May 26 I dont think he will get on very well there and its a shame we didnt get him as he is a good player but I would prefer us to get lowton off sheff utd as he is a much better player.
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dirtydingusmagee added 11:08 - May 26 plenty of time yet !dont be panicking,the world dosnt end until 21st Dec 2012......oh b.....ks thats this year,thought we,d be top of Prem when that happened .
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braveblue added 11:24 - May 26 The dynamic due of Clegg/Jewell stike again. This time we were beaten by a club offering less money. We are so badly managed it is embarassing. Watch out for 30+ premier rejects.
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h32 added 12:16 - May 26 Dozzles Bobblehat - fair comment.
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Keaneish added 12:57 - May 26 I disagree with the posts saying we can't compete! Ward has no ambition, wants money he can't have and wants to be close to his family. This is a blessing in disguise. Now buy Caddis! Jewels not silly. He knew this would happen as did we all!
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DanLyles added 13:03 - May 26 Would rather have Matt Lowton or Jack Hunt http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/ipswich_town_could_look_to_league_one_p
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essexeagle added 14:40 - May 26 palace fan in peace some sensible comments on here regarding joel ward " who maybe signing for us !! but nothings def, how do some of you actually believe yr a bigger club then palace because of fan base now or is this based on something else i,m interested to know? why wouldn't he choose palace over ipswich then " we used to get 40,000 gates when i was a kid were as much a sleeping giant as you guys think you are ! were competing with arsenal spurs chelsea fulham west ham etc etc. if ever we got a ten year run in the top tier we,d need a bigger stadium believe me " the kids only want premier league teams these days not championship teams and wev,e been out the top flight for 7 years and you lose support to bigger teams unless your a 1 town club like yourselves " anyway i,ll be very happy to hear why the blues fans on here think yr a bigger club with more potential then palace "

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denhamblue added 16:28 - May 26 i agree he is average, ect ect,but why bitch against palace? Lets face it we cannot compete with many clubs in the championship anymore,so instead of slating palace how about facing the fact we are tin pot and average now!
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Keaneish added 19:08 - May 26 essexeagle - several of my mate's are Palace fans so i'm familiar with what's going on at your club. I guess if we're looking at who has the best history in terms of honours, that would be us with a couple of England managers in there to boot. Fan base, no doubt you've got great support but in terms of numbers i doubt there's much in it size wise. We have a bigger stadium with newer facilities. Both have good traditions of bringing young players through so in all honesty we might shade it but there's not a lot in it. With regard to Ward, i think his saga has gone on so long no-one on this forum cared where he finally ended up. We were exited about the combined bid with Pearce in January but no we've all lost interest in him. I think with Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackpool, Burnley, us and yourselves all in the running at one point you'd have to say Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday are the biggest clubs so if he had ambition he would have gone to one of them two. As for you or us getting promoted next season you need someone who can pout the ball in the net and we need defenders, until either of us get them, it's going to mid-table mediocrity again! Maybe Murray will come good for you next season or have a decent frontman to support him.

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abbeyblue added 19:43 - May 26 First there 3 (Portsmoth targets) then there were 2, then only 1 and , finally 0! Do we actually stand any chance of attracting any good players to sign on for us? If not, then it will be another season of "mid table mediocrity" or worse....and to think of the players we have lost who could perform at this level (e.g. Rhodes and Trotter)....
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Talbs77 added 22:34 - May 26 What a bloody anti climax and yet another example of us failing to get our TOP targets as no doubt this guy was near the top of pj wishlist. The most worrying thing for me is the fact we were beaten to the signature by Crystal Palace!! Not even one of the big guns in this league with no parachute payments, just an ordinary Champonship Club.
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PunchNoHopers added 23:35 - May 27 Ward and Pearce both gone to other Championship clubs, and both on 4-year contracts, yet from interviews with Jewell and Clegg on Radio Suffolk towards the end of the season, it was clear we aren't offering 4-year contracts, when will they wake up to this!!
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