Town have completed the signing of Irish international winger Kasey McAteer from Leicester City.

The fee is understood to be £11.5 million plus add-ons with the player having signed a four-year deal.

Yesterday it emerged that the Blues were targeting the 23-year-old with the clubs quickly tying up a deal.

The Blues have been looking for a right-sided attacker to replace Omari Hutchinson, who left to join Nottingham Forest for £37.5 million last weekend.

“I’m delighted to be here and can’t wait to get started,” Town’s new number 20 shirt told the club site.

“It’s a very attractive project which is being built here and I want to add myself to that.

“I’ve been to Ipswich as an away player and I know how good the support is. As soon as I heard Ipswich were interested it was the only move I wanted to make.

“The aim is to get promoted again and that’s what we will push for every day. I want to be a part of that and I aspire to be the best version of myself, which is something I will be looking to bring to the squad.

“I’m excited to get to work with the boys and the staff and I can’t wait to meet the fans.”

Northampton-born McAteer joined Leicester aged eight and made his first senior appearance in the Premier League in a 4-0 victory over Newcastle in December 2021.

Having had spells on loan with Forest Green Rovers, with whom he won the 2021/22 League Two title, and AFC Wimbledon, the right-sided forward has gone on to make a total of 27 starts and 29 sub appearances for the Foxes, scoring eight goals, including his side’s second in the 2-0 win against the Blues at the King Power Stadium in May. He was a member of the squad which pipped Town to the 2023/24 Championship title.

McAteer has won six full Republic of Ireland caps, scoring one international goal. He will become the fifth senior Ireland international in the squad alongside skipper Dara O'Shea, Chieo Ogbene, Sammie Szmodics and Jack Taylor.

The signing has been made in time for McAteer to be eligible for Saturday’s visit to Preston North End.

That would be his second trip to Deepdale in eight days having come on as an 86th-minute sub for the Foxes in their 2-1 defeat there last Saturday.

McAteer also came on as a sub in the opening day victory over Sheffield Wednesday by the same scoreline, in the 78th minute, as well as playing the full 90 in the on-penalties Carabao Cup defeat at Huddersfield.

Photo: ITFC

Suffolk_n_Proud added 11:02 - Aug 22 Welcome to the best football club in the World. I'm not bias I promise.
27

itfc58 added 11:03 - Aug 22 Welcome to ITFC and I hope you smash it up and prove all the boring doubters & moaners wrong!
30

poet added 11:03 - Aug 22 I think Omari is a very technically gifted player, however what this lad has in my opinion, that Omari hasn’t, is a good Irish toughness about him. Also, he’s no slouch, he’s quick and very competitive. Lots of posters on here are being more than a bit unfair on him, I think they may be surprised.
27

PortmanTerrorist added 11:04 - Aug 22 I guess we will never know if Kasey was ever a target or a fall back option, but hope The Club and Coaches can get him playing they way he did a couple of years back, as the current version is not getting into the competition's team. Much to prove on both sides here but nothing but good luck wishes Kasey, hope this proves an inspired move.
4

mikemuhrenthijssen added 11:04 - Aug 22 Underwhelming
-34

ITFC_1994 added 11:05 - Aug 22 Welcome to Town McAteer!!! You'll be supported immensely by those who actually go to games but written off by the negative armchair fans on here that dont!! Looking forward to seeing what you can do! Linked on Thursday, signed on Friday! Just goes to show we have no idea what's going on behind closed doors and they'll be a few more surprises over the next week or so! COYB

23

cartman1972 added 11:05 - Aug 22 Very good purchase this
11

ArmaghBlue added 11:05 - Aug 22 Welcome to the club!! Hope you can use the doubters on here to push yourself on.
14

BeachBlue added 11:08 - Aug 22 Welcome to Ipswich! I think this will be a great signing!
12

Phil1969 added 11:11 - Aug 22 If he wasn’t up to it I’m sure O’Shay and the rest of the Irish team we employ would have said. Good acquisition.
8

BobbyBell added 11:16 - Aug 22 KM knows what we were missing in the Premier League and he is building this new squad around that. We must trust his judgement and his coaching skills. Just because a player doesn't set the world alight with one club doesn't mean he can't do it with a new club, new challenge and new team mates.
5

BobbyBell added 11:16 - Aug 22 KM knows what we were missing in the Premier League and he is building this new squad around that. We must trust his judgement and his coaching skills. Just because a player doesn't set the world alight with one club doesn't mean he can't do it with a new club, new challenge and new team mates.
2

CaptainAhab added 11:19 - Aug 22 Welcome Kasey, hopefully prove all those naysayers wrong and become a Town legend
6

JPR77 added 11:20 - Aug 22 I previously posted claiming to be underwhelmed by this signing, which emanated from knowing nothing about the player. Welcome Kasey, wishing you the very best of luck and hope you humble me soon.
1

ITFCMatt1 added 11:21 - Aug 22 What happened to us taking an age to sign players? only mentioned yesterday and signed by the following lunchtime
5

dawoolah added 11:22 - Aug 22 I think this is a great signing. He’ll be very keen to make his mark, great age but already experienced and he’s an International teammate to many of our squad who will help him settle in. Welcome Kasey
4

Welshblue72 added 11:25 - Aug 22 Don’t know enough about this lad as I watch town play not Leicester. If KMc deems him good enough then that’s good enough for me Welcome to town Casey
2

Welshblue72 added 11:25 - Aug 22 Don’t know enough about this lad as I watch town play not Leicester. If KMc deems him good enough then that’s good enough for me Welcome to town Casey
0

Welshblue72 added 11:26 - Aug 22 Kasey*
0

Blooos added 11:28 - Aug 22 No surprise how quickly this got done.. bet Leicester couldn’t believe what we were offering and drove him here.
-11

LondonBlue73 added 11:29 - Aug 22 Lots of negative posts on an earlier article regarding this signing. My view is that what we had last season did t work as we had all hoped and therefore the inevitable turnover of players had to happen. We got promoted to soon with momentum and had a great ride but that Championship team from League one would not achieve that success nine times out of ten It's sad to see players leave especially those that took us on a wonderful journey after years of pain. That said payers like this are an upgrade on signing a youngster on loan such as the risk we took with Omari at that time. Yes Omari worked out. We are building a squad that's better than we had two years ago and change takes time. Some signings may not work out and others will surprise us. I choose to support those in the team, trust the management we now have, accept some mistakes will be made but see progress. For me Axel needs replacing and another striker and midfielder. I still think we will get Hackney. But who had heard of Morden, Luongo, etc when we signed them, who'd have thought Burns would excel in the Championship coming from Fleetwood or Chaplin become so instrumental. I'd say that Szmodics is an upgrade, Cajuste and Azor are better than Morsey and Mass, Hirst and Akpom, stronger than Hirst and Chappers Clarke/Philogene potentially better than Broadhead, younger and more direct but need to get better and fit to our style I'd say Greaves and O'Shea better than Woolf ie and Burgess or Edmonton. This team will take a bit of time to settle and bed in but the squad is stronger. Remember league one promotion it took till Jan/Feb to become unstoppable. KM has delivered before, developed a team we need to support this reincarnation

10

runaround added 11:31 - Aug 22 Welcome to Portman Road Kasey
4

Bert added 11:31 - Aug 22 Welcome young man. The Portman Road crowd are very supportive and fair minded.
1

itfc2024 added 11:31 - Aug 22 welcome aboard I feel this is a uninspiring signing but will back you as do every single player regardless of how bad they are leicester you have robbed my club but fair play
-7

WhoisJimmyJuan added 11:31 - Aug 22 Welcome to ITFC Kasey. Hoping it all works out well. Will see how he gets on before deciding if this was a good signing or not. For me, jury still out on Ogbene and Philogene to. I don't think Jack Clarke is that bad either but hope all will thrive and fire us back to the Prem. Give em a chance please!
2

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls