Town are reported to have made an official bid to Bayer Leverkusen for Argentina international Exequiel Palacios.

The Blues were first mentioned in connection with the 27-year-old at the start of the month and now, according to Fabrizio Romano, have made an offer.

Town are said to have competition from four other clubs for Palacios, RB Leipzig having previously been linked.

The 27-year-old midfielder, who began his career with River Plate in his home country, won the World Cup in 2022 and was in the side which lost this year’s final last month. In total, he has won 41 full caps.

Palacios is contracted to Leverkusen, with whom he won the Bundesliga in 2023/24, until the summer of 2030.

Soon after the link with the Blues, Bild claimed Palacios joining Town was “out of the question” as the the player sees himself at a “top club” were he to move to England.

Speaking yesterday, Blues boss Gary O’Neil said Town are still looking to do plenty of business during this window.

“The plan is to do quite a bit more,” he said. “Numbers really. Of course, nothing is set in stone, but we’re still trying to do stuff. You hope that before Sunderland we’d have done some and then definitely before the close of the window we’d expect there to be more arrivals.

“Everyone’s working hard trying to find the right balance between what’s done really well here in the past and what needs to be added, and trying to puzzle that all together to give ourselves the best chance this season in the best league in the world which everyone’s looking forward to.

“It’s a long season and you need enough bodies around, experience and pace. You need enough quality, it tests all of it. We’re going to need as much as we can, and as you’ve seen so far the ownership and Mark are fully committed to giving us the best chance possible.

“All working hard to try and put the club in the best place we can by the end of the window, and see if we can start the season well.”

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