Town have completed the signing of West Brom keeper Alex Palmer on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

A £2 million initial fee plus add-ons was agreed between the clubs early today with Palmer travelling to Suffolk to undergo a medical this afternoon.

“It’s an exciting time for me and I am ready to embrace a new challenge,” Palmer, who will wear the number 31 shirt, told TownTV. “I’ve come here with one aim and that’s to help the club.”

The Blues’ goalkeeper situation has been unsettled all season with summer signing Aro Muric putting in inconsistent displays and making way for Christian Walton before Christmas, the former Brighton man then suffering a groin injury at Liverpool just over a week ago.

Kosovo international Muric, who cost the Blues £10 million from Burnley, returned on Saturday but made crucial errors as Town were beaten 2-1 by bottom side Southampton.

Kidderminster-born Palmer, 28, came through the Baggies youth system having joined them aged 14 and spent time on loan at his hometown club, Oldham, Notts County, Plymouth, Lincoln and Luton.

For Albion, the 6ft 3in tall glovesman has made 104 starts, although none in the Premier League, while he won caps with the England U16s as a youngster.

In 2023/24, Palmer jointly won the Championship Golden Glove keeping 18 clean sheets and this season has secured 11 shutouts in 30 league games.

Palmer, who had 18 months on his contract at the Hawthorns, hasn’t played for the Baggies in the FA Cup this season, so could make his debut at Coventry on Saturday.

The keeper’s recruitment is set to be the last Town business of the transfer window, the Blues having brought in Ben Godfrey on loan from Atalanta, Jaden Philogene on a permanent basis from Aston Villa and Julio Enciso on loan from Brighton in addition to Palmer and 18-year-old left-back Somto Boniface, whose signing for the development squad was confirmed earlier this evening.

As expected, former Blues midfielder Flynn Downes remains a Southampton player.

Elsewhere, ex-Town full-back Kane Vincent-Young has rejoined Colchester United, the side he left to sign for the Blues in August 2019. The 28-year-old was released by Wycombe at the end of last season.

Another former Blue, winger Kyle Edwards, 26, has joined Stevenage from Oxford United.

Photo: ITFC/Matchday Images

itfc2024 added 22:01 - Feb 3 Zonny no striker no decent holding midfielder wasted £20 million on a winger we didn't need as don't play wingers so could have used that money on downes and a decent striker will need another striker next season when delap leaves so should have made a striker our main concern
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itfc2024 added 22:14 - Feb 3 blues1 philogene isn't good enough once he choose villa over us in summer should have left him their and brought better players who would be up for the fight cos I see no fight from non of the players out their saturday
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Leejames99 added 22:14 - Feb 3 Great signing, match fit, straight in as number one and quite rightly so. That's the end for Walton now I think he be sold in Summer, unless we loan Muric for a season, he is only 26 and needs to get confidence back it is no different to when a striker doesnt score for ages and fans booing their own keeper and slating hin doesnt help, he was 8 million and I think Mckenna will work with him and we should support hik all the way for as long as he is a town player. Let's give him a break now to concentrate on his game and training. Midfield is a worry, Morsy is just not good enough IMO and if we don't sign anyone then we need to play the players we bought in and try and keep the same starting 11, no time for sentiment now. I'm not bothered about strikers better to keep the money and see where we are, should Delap get injured I'd be fine with Szmodicks, Hirst or Broadhead in the 9 spot. The new formation seems to br 1-3-2-4-1with that in mind and all fit I think the strongest defensive and attacking 11 that can defend but transition to attack via Enciso is - Palmer Tunazabe O'Shea C Greaves Davis Godfrey Phillips Enciso Hutchinson Phillogene Delap We can move instantly to back 5 with Phillips defensive mid and Ensiso attacking mid with pace on flanks for delap That looks like a Premier team and good subs who are like for like Cajuste to finish game for Phillips, Broadhead for Hutch, J Clarke for Phillogene, Szmodicks for Enciso, Hirst for Delap etc That's strong like for like not league 1 midfield. Just my opinion feel free to say what your line up would be for remainder it's interesting. COYB

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Saxonblue74 added 22:19 - Feb 3 Itfc2024, you may want to read up on the Philogene Villa transfer.
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foot_kick_ball_goal added 22:20 - Feb 3 Well it's a shame about muric. I went and watched the town preseason against Hoffenheim. Me and my friend were a bit confused as to why he was so far out of his box, but he seemed alert enough to be back at the right time and the sweeper keeper system seemed to keep the Hoffenheim defence under constant pressure. Plus it soon became apparent that his distribution was fantastic. From his hands or from his feet it seemed to land perfectly and we left Austria with high hopes for the new keeper. Sadly once the season started against Liverpool and city, being so far out of his box backfired. His distribution started to drop off in line with his confidence as the error count increased. Now we are where we are. I can see what McK saw in him and it's a shame it didn't work out. We will never know for sure why or how it ended with hdalky, but what could have been a good replacement simply didn't work out. That's the end of it. Now we have to look at the rest of the season and throw every ounce of support the teams way. Confidence will be rock bottom and they will need all the help they can get. By no means is our season over, there are still many games left to play and many points to fight for. My bet is that lief will rediscover his ability to notch up assist after assist and we will get a few wins on the board and survive the drop. If not I don't think we will be away as long as last time.

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Bert added 22:25 - Feb 3 An unexpected but good signing. As Everton and others have found out there are few if any decent strikers available so we must work with what we have got.
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Leejames99 added 22:42 - Feb 3 What on earth slated Muric non stop shattered his confidence poor guy and now turning on phillogene who has played 1 game and a brief sub appearance at Liverpool, he is quality, I'm shocked
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SuperTabby added 23:00 - Feb 3 From what West Brom fans have said he’s a very reliable shot stopper and doesn’t make many mistakes, struggles a bit with crosses and hasn’t got great kicking. But he seems a really nice lad and he’s put in some top performances for West Brom over the years. Very pleased to have him in the squad, and really hope he does well and gives a bit of confidence back to our defence.

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Leejames99 added 23:01 - Feb 3 Some Town fans never happy with anything, someone has even put that if we go down Luongo and Morsy etc be great its madness it really is, we have the England U21 frontline, a Sweden International, England's player of tournament at Euros, Republic of Ireland internationals, Championship team of the season players, a brand new stadium, a top coach, financially stable and there is still moans. It makes me laugh that fans think we have a divine right to be in Premiership after 22 years away and be midtable straight away, who do people think should go down? Wolves, Everton, Spurs? Teams who been in Prem for yours. Mckenna and Ashton with the owners are building a squad and foundations to become an established prem club by buying youth and potential assets with value and loaning experience. Our downfall is playing league 1 players for sentiment and only a couple have stepped up. People slate Phillips, Phillogene,J Clarke even turning on Hutch, we are not in a place to get De Brunye or Ansensio but continue as we are and in a few years we should be, every single established team from recent years including Villa had a season or 2 in Championship. We are supposed to be supporters and slating new signings and doom and gloom posts, its unbelievable it really is.

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OliveR16 added 23:13 - Feb 3 LeeJames99 'the England U21 frontline'? Good grief. 1 James Beadle (Sheffield Wednesday on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion) 3 Bashir Humphreys (Burnley) 5 Charlie Cresswell (Toulouse) 6 Tyler Morton (Liverpool) 10 James McAtee (Manchester City) 14 Samuel Iling-Junior (Bologna on loan from Aston Villa) 16 Lewis Miley (Newcastle United) 17 Jobe Bellingham (Sunderland) 18 Archie Gray (Tottenham Hotspur) 19 Dane Scarlett (Oxford United on loan from Tottenham Hotspur) 21 Tyler Dibling (Southampton)

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blues1 added 23:23 - Feb 3 Bluearmy81. Really. Brightons 1st goal. Dived over the ball. City's 3rd goal, foden barely hit the ball, squeezed under his body. City's 6th. Yes, Macatee was unmarked but started to come off his line and stopped, headed over him. Same with Liverpools 4th goal. Started to come, then stopped. I'm not, for 1 minute, defending Muric for his errors btw. Bitche is also joint 4th in the pl for saves made. But anyone who thinks walton is any better than him, is mistaken. Definitely needed another keeper, and we've now got that. Just hope, if he does make an error, our fans actually give him a chance, and not immediately start slagging him off, knocking his confidence. Which is what has happened with Muric.

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KiwiTractor added 23:28 - Feb 3 He doesn't have a great goal scoring record.....
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blues1 added 23:33 - Feb 3 Zonny. What are you on about? How's it a poor window? 4 players in. Yes, we wanted a,striker,but it's not that easy in January. Just ask arsenal, man utd, to name but 2 who wanted one, but failed to do so.
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Leejames99 added 23:45 - Feb 3 @oliverR16 There is always one, it's England games they have an abundance of talent as you googled team from last match was a friendly game, look at the Euro Qualifier against Ukraine on 11/10/24 frontline 7 is Hutch 11 is Phillogene and 9 is Delap with Macatee in 10 so I think you will find we do have the England U21 front 3 as I first stated - good grief as you say, always one. Your welcome!

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VanDusen added 00:45 - Feb 4 Disappointing not to get that striker, but tricky in this window (particularly after Saturday) and we know the club recruits on character as much as ability. I imagine that's more difficult with strikers as they're confidence players and usually have a bit more ego (remember Leon Best anyone?). Hopefully Ali can get a hatful in the 2nd half of the season and be welcomed back improved, esp as we're likely back in the Championship. He runs his socks off whatever happens.

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VanDusen added 00:48 - Feb 4 Talking of ego btw - I wonder if the antipathy toward Philogene is the rather pretentious 'Jayden' moniker. As Mick said of the soon-to-be-on-trial Emmanuel Thomas - "if he wants to be called JET he'd better get a rocket up his @rse."
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Granthamblue62 added 02:29 - Feb 4 Not a great Jan window. Whilst the acquisition of Palmer is a massive plus, unfortunately there is not enough top quality in this squad to see us through. My prediction is 2 wins, 4 draws and 8 defeats from remaining games. 26 points isnt going to cut it. Before all the haters start throwing their teddies out I want to make it clear I'm as gutted as everyone else! I will explain my post-Saints reflections in the post below, which I feel are fair and balanced. It was a step up too soon, simple as. If I'm proved wrong I will eat that Haaland humble pie!

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Granthamblue62 added 02:30 - Feb 4 So, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect after the sickening defeat to the Saints. I didn’t want to post anything immediately after the game, as I felt that would be a knee-jerk reaction. Here is my honest appraisal of our current situation. McKenna has done an outstanding job since coming in at the end of 2021. Not only has he transformed our beloved club, but he has also been instrumental in giving us back our pride. The manner in which he conducts himself is exemplary which has gone down particularly well with pundits. However . . . let us not forget that this is his first managerial role. We smashed League 1 but massively over-performed in the Championship. McKenna’s generated ‘feel good’ factor and the fact that he was able to squeeze every drop of effort out of lower standard players was exhilarating. How many times last season did commentators remark that we would fall away? However . . . what this season has shown is that you simply cannot compete in the Premier League with lower standard players. Often, its not down to effort. More like, when a lower standard player makes a mistake, they will get punished. The Premier League has some of the best players on the planet. The Premier League is brutal! McKenna still has plenty of kudos in the bank, and rightly so. But, promotion came too soon for us, so we have become victims of our own success. McKenna, like so many of the current squad, is out of his depth. It pains me to say that, but once again, we must remember this is his first job in management. He will learn and he will get much better. I pray that his developmental journey is with us. I fear that with only 14 games remaining, time is running out for us this season. It would be nice to go down with a fight though. The 4 defeats on the bounce have included some well-below par performances. Needless to say, Muric must never be allowed to wear a Town shirt again!

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Bluewhiteboy added 07:14 - Feb 4 Ashton has had a nightmare. After transfer payments, signing on fees etc prob going to spend 15million on gks and we haven't got any better than what we had last year. Bet we Offered haldky half of what we are paying both of these latest too
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Alphawhiskey added 07:58 - Feb 4 TimmyH .... Philogene has hardly played and hardly knows his fellow team mates!! What a stupid comment. Not all players hit the ground running in their first few matches.
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Alphawhiskey added 08:07 - Feb 4 And welcome Alex. The thing is guys, what do we do with Muric? Personally I would keep him and still believe he will come good in time. Not this season though. He needs a confidence boost
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Dissboyitfc added 08:45 - Feb 4 Very much needed a new keeper, hope he starts as no1 and stays there! FOOT_KICK Muric didnt play against Liverpool!
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JewellintheTown added 08:45 - Feb 4 With a name like Palmer, hopefully shouldn't do what Muric did on Saturday, especially for their second goal. Welcome aboard.
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itfc2024 added 08:57 - Feb 4 looking at the transfer business wolves did this window to add to the quailty they have at the club they are in pole position to stay up that's the difference they want to stay up and will do anything to stay where we seem to wanna trust the players from league 1 and championship which I'm afraid will get us relgated
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Gazelle added 09:01 - Feb 4 Leejames99 I like reading your comments as they are largely what I would say. However I don’t want to praise or criticise individual players or our manager but as a season ticket holder it’s very noticeable that our build ups are far slower than most of the ther sides that I’ve seen. And also our midfield looks vulnerable when other sides attack us at pace which puts more pressure on our defence. A goal I saw on Sky Sports this week….cant remember which one….started of with an interception just outside the penalty area and not 15 seconds later a goal was scored at the other end. A breakaway yes but with so many square passes we seem incapable of creating attacks at speed

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