Town and Bristol City have completed the deal which sees Jay Emmanuel-Thomas move to Ashton Gate and winger Paul Anderson join the Blues. Both players have signed two-year contracts with their new clubs.

Anderson started his career as a youth player with West Brom, before moving on to Hull City and then Liverpool in November 2005.

The 24-year-old spent time on loan at Swansea and Nottingham Forest — when he was linked with a move to the Blues - while with the Reds, before making the switch to the City Ground permanent in the summer of 2009 for £250,000.

The 5ft 9in tall former England U19 international moved on to Bristol City last summer, signing a two-year deal. He made 19 starts and 11 sub appearances for the Robins during their 2012/13 relegation campaign, scoring three goals.

The clubs are understood to have thrashed out a deal over the weekend which will see Town settle the remaining year on Emmanuel-Thomas’s contract.

The Blues are said to have been looking for a player plus cash arrangement — having paid in excess of £1 million for Emmanuel-Thomas when he signed from Arsenal — but have had to settle for just the player swap.

The 22-year-old midfielder played for Robins boss Sean O'Driscoll on loan at Doncaster and was initially targeted as a loan signing back in January.

Londoner Emmanuel-Thomas joined the Blues from the Gunners in July 2011 and made 43 starts and 32 sub appearances, scoring nine goals.

Photo: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

not_a_witty_name added 16:12 - Jul 8 I think this will be a good bit of business. Unlike a lot of other released players we have had to pay up we have something in return this time. Just think of it as us paying Bristol £1.5m for Paul Anderson.
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bluearmy78 added 16:12 - Jul 8 I like your sleeve tattoo Paul!! :)
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JewellintheTown added 16:18 - Jul 8 Is it me or is the PR pitch on the photo sloping, or is Anderson leaning to one side and the photographer compensating by tilting the camera so he's appearing vertical? Dodgy grounds staff. Either way its sending my head a bit funny. Oh, nice to have him join though BTW.
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RobTheMonk added 16:20 - Jul 8 Anderson is a player who will run at defenders and look to get crosses in. If he can stay injury free he'll be a better option than JET in my opinion. JET does have a magic moment in him, but rarely. Anderson is a solid winger who will offer more consitancy rather than a gamble.
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Jimmys_Law added 16:23 - Jul 8 I don't think this has put us in a very good position considering we ended up paying the remaining year of JET's contract and we've still lost him. I'm sure he'll do well and I have a feeling he'll come back to show us why we should have kept him. I do have high hopes for Anderson though and I hope he can be a consistent out-and-out winger next season, something we haven't had for a long time. I don't know who MM will pick to start on the right of midfield with Edwards or Anderson.

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Marshalls_Mullet added 16:30 - Jul 8 Why would you move to Bristol? Its a bit out on a limb and the people speak with a funny accent!! Doh!!
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Lightningboy added 16:37 - Jul 8 Squad is coming along nicely. Mick's trimming off the fat. It's so nice having a manager who knows what he's doing.
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kerryblue added 16:49 - Jul 8 All we need to do now is ship out chopra and were rid of our rubbish,welcome to the champions elect
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suffolkpunchdrunk added 16:54 - Jul 8 JET - My Life Story - Ipswich Town Chapter - I came I ran about a bit when I felt like it I tweeted I underperformed I tweeted some more I underperformed some more I got paid loads to leave Great times! Lol! #waste
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Mark added 16:56 - Jul 8 I'm glad the deal is done, and welcome Paul Anderson. We have a proper winger at last! :-) Emmanuel-Thomas must feel a bit odd dropping to League One with all the talent he has, but without consistency he will struggle to make it in the Championship unfortuntely for him. I presume Emmanuel-Thomas's transfer fee was based on appearances and that we didn't just pay the whole lot up front! That could be another reason we're letting him go, if persevering with him meant further installments to Arsenal.

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Hiltzkooler added 16:56 - Jul 8 DaleyITFC....re real life...if it makes sense for the BBC to dish millions for poor performance then I'm sure a business deal for Town makes sense, however it gets presented when compared to the BBC....get real...Compromise deals are a fact of life in the business world...
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blues1 added 17:10 - Jul 8 casanovacrow. excellent 1st part to your post. but if youd read just the 1st paragraph of this story you would have seen that they both signed 2 yr deals. pazelle? usual trash form you. no, we haven't just ripped his contract up, weve done what many clubs do when a player moves on, e.g. Liverpool have just paid up andy carrolls last year so he could go to w.ham. hull paid up bullards when we signed him. the only difference in our deal is we got a player(who otherwise would have commanded a fee). in exchange for jet. is good to see that most people on here are happy with this deal, what amazes me is the number of people saying they know nothing about Anderson. this leads me to the conclusion that the majority of posters on here must be very young, prob still at school because it not so many years ago he played for forest, and was an excellent player for them.

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h32 added 17:59 - Jul 8 ...... forget the Training Facilities - wait ti' he see's the Turnstiles !!
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jas0999 added 18:03 - Jul 8 Whether we liked JET or not, whether we like / know of Anderson or not .... the deal is done and we all move on. Best of luck to both!
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muccletonjoe added 18:10 - Jul 8 Been many Saturdays when jay has looked as though he would rather be anywhere than portman road and I have wished he was likewise. Now he will be!
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muhrensleftfoot added 19:06 - Jul 8 Welcome Paul, look forward to watchimng you and wish you a great future at ITFC. Goodbye Jay, total waste of space and money too.
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bluemikey100 added 19:09 - Jul 8 good luck lad sure u be bettter than jet im sad to say and very happy that grant i love delia holt saga is over and he signed for wigan so we be playin against him lol gonna be a good season
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tcannITFC added 19:19 - Jul 8 We shouldn't have let JET go, he had a bad season but he is good when he comes on from the bench, good luck JET. Let's hope Paul Anderson is worth it!
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ChimayBlue added 19:52 - Jul 8 A couple of seasons ago I saw JET run up and down the pitch at Watford V Ipswich 10 mins into the second half. I remember my Dad saying to me "look - look he's done! his hands are on his knees". We lost that day and he hardly kicked the ball again after that.
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TimmyH added 20:01 - Jul 8 Welcome Paul and hope you do better than JET has done for us, don't mean to be nasty but Arsenal, Ipswich and now Bristol City...hardly on the decent is he!
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TimmyH added 20:03 - Jul 8 * ascent :)
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BlueMachines added 20:32 - Jul 8 How does this work with FFP? I assume it releases no money for wages as we paid them for the year?
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harlingblue added 20:53 - Jul 8 I think that he is a replacement for Lee Martin rather than JET. Both came here from big clubs but were poor performers at Championship level. Chopra is the one player that is still at the club that needs to up his game or move on, or be moved on?
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miltonsnephew added 21:18 - Jul 8 Owain fon Williams signs back on at tranmere!! Nice to see he's out of the picture!!
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essextractorboy93 added 21:46 - Jul 8 Good deal for us I think, JET is just far too inconsistent. I think most of us found him to be exciting on his day but it wasn't often enough. Welcome to Ipswich Town Paul Anderson!
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