Tottenham Hotspur just confirmed its first official permanent player departure of the transfer window. 21-year old midfielder Grant Ward has been signed by Championship club Ipswich Town after spending all of last season in the Championship on loan with Rotherham.
We have reached agreement with @Official_ITFC for the transfer of @GrantWard_. Good luck, Grant! pic.twitter.com/CplbNqAtCZ
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 1, 2016
Ward has been somewhat of a journeyman over the past two seasons and has perpetually been on loan. He spent the first half of Spurs’ 2014-15 season on loan at Chicago Fire, then moved to Coventry City for the remainder of the year. He had a good loan with a not-very-good Rotherham last season where he made 33 starts for the Millers, scoring two goals.
Now he looks set to join an Ipswich Town club that finished in seventh place in the Championship last season, just outside the promotion playoffs, and is looking for reinforcements this season.
The amount of the fee isn’t disclosed, but it won’t be for much -- the East Anglian Daily Times, writing about the deal earlier today, suggested it will be “not as high as the £700k paid for Adam Webster.” £500k for a Championship-level starter who’s still just 21 years old seems like a stupid low fee to me, but the report also says it’s full of performance-based clauses, so the better Ward does the more Spurs get paid.
We probably should’ve seen this coming when Ward wasn’t taken with the team to Melbourne. After spending the past two seasons on loan, it seemed likely that his future probably lay away from Tottenham, and Ipswich is a club that can use him and could make a serious promotion push this year. It’s not a bad move, and with luck we might see Premier League midfielder Grant Ward as soon as next season.
Good luck, Grant! I enjoyed your performance on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.