Gary O'Neil has been quizzed on Ipswich Town's pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Exequiel Palacios. (Image: PA)
Gary O'Neil has been quizzed on Ipswich Town's pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Exequiel Palacios. (Image: PA)
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil played a straight bat when quizzed on reports that the Blues are closing in on the signing of World Cup winning Argentina midfielder Exequiel Palacios.
Midway through the Blues' 3-1 home win against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup tonight, The Athletic's David Ornstein stated that Town are 'closing to agreeing' a €22.5m + €5m deal with Bayer Leverkusen for the 41-cap international.
Asked if he could confirm that to be the case during his post-match press conference, O'Neil replied: "I can't, no. I've been busy. My phone's been on 'do not disturb'!
"As far as I'm aware, we're still working hard on trying to get a few in between now and the close of the window (11pm next Tuesday). I'm sure there'll be a little bit of movement, potentially both ways, in and out.
"The guys have been working their socks off, obviously. They've not had quite as much access to me over the last few days because I've been busy preparing games. But the work has continued.
"The ownership, Mark (Ashton), Luke (Werhun), Dmitri (Halajko), the recruitment team, everyone is just pushing. There's no let-up. We're still pushing to be as good as we can be.
"We'll be trying, with the resources that we have left available to us, to make the group as strong as we can."
Regarding possible exits, there have been reports that Wrexham are in talks to sign Anis Mehmeti and Ali Al-Hamadi is close to joining Sheffield Wednesday.
With neither in the squad tonight, O'Neil explained: "Anis was ill today. He would have been in the group tonight, but when we reported for training this morning he was unwell. That was a shame because he would have got minutes. So as far as Anis not being in the squad, that was purely medical.
"Ali, I think, is close. You'll probably be more up-to-date than me on that at this moment. But last I heard, Ali was close. So let's see what happens over the next few days."