Second Palacios Bid 'Rejected'
Tuesday, 18th Aug 2026 13:42

Town’s second offer for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Exequiel Palacios has been turned down, according to German reports.

Just over a week ago, the Blues made an offer of €15 million (£12.8 million) for the Argentina international, which was swiftly rebuffed by the Bundesliga side, who set their price at €35 million (£29.9 million).

Town stepped away from the discussions but over the weekend German reports claimed Palacios had indicated to Leverkusen that he wanted to move on, was prepared to lower his personal financial demands and would be interested in the Blues, despite earlier signals that the 27-year-old would only consider a bigger club if he were to make a switch to England.

Earlier today, Fabrizio Romano reported that Town had made a new offer and were hopeful that a deal could be done.

However, highly regarded German football magazine Kicker is now reporting that that bid has also been rejected having been only slightly higher than the initial offer.

German Sky reporter Florian Plettenberg says the new bid was just over €20 million and quotes an internal source at the Bundesliga club: “We are miles apart.”

Argentinian news organisation Medio River say they expect the Blues to come back with another offer in the hours to come and a deal subsequently concluded.

If the move were to be agreed, Palacios would be the most eye-catching addition of an already very busy summer at Portman Road, with the outlay having already hit the £150 million mark, and probably the highest profile signing in the club’s history.

The 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.

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

Photo: Stefan Koops - EYE4IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Tractorog added 13:46 - Aug 18 Just the inevitable argie bargie... I'm going to keep using this joke until one of you likes it!
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churchmans81 added 13:46 - Aug 18 Based on all the other business done over the summer I’m confident the recruitment/ negotiating team know what they’re doing. Looking forward to seeing how this one plays out!
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superblues9 added 13:48 - Aug 18 2 good comments
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Karlosfandangal added 13:51 - Aug 18 It sound that a £25 million bid might get things moving with a load of add ons
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RetroBlue added 13:51 - Aug 18 Maybe we need to be realistic in our offers and no waste time. This player is a world cup level player, so maybe don't insult his club by what appears to be offers lower than what we've offered for lesser players in the past ?
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Bazza8564 added 13:52 - Aug 18 Suggest if there's no-one else sniffing we will get our man, but it might mean paying more. With the player now keen to come, I would suggest we bite the bullet and get it done.
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Benji1611 added 13:54 - Aug 18 It's going to happen. I don't think those making the negative comments about him quite understand what it would mean for us to sign someone this good. I'm immensely excited for this season
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wischip added 13:56 - Aug 18 I think one of the clubs in Europe will now step in with an accepted bid with all the attention we've made to him. Time to look elsewhere.
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Monkey_Blue added 13:58 - Aug 18 We risk annoying Leverkusen and even the player by being so far off and also allowing others the chance to swoop. I’m not so sure this is the right signing for lots of reasons but this seems a strange tactic unless leverkusen quoted a much lower price than €35m
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Monkey_Blue added 13:59 - Aug 18 We risk annoying Leverkusen and even the player by being so far off and also allowing others the chance to swoop. I’m not so sure this is the right signing for lots of reasons but this seems a strange tactic unless leverkusen quoted a much lower price than €35m
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Stato added 13:59 - Aug 18

I can see good and bad points about how Mark Ashton does his job (I'm not interested in the Reform debacle) but credit where its due he seems to have recovered his mojo in the recruitment part of his brief. This summer he has landed just about most of his targets as we can tell and from our armchairs he seems to be keeping a tight rein on the financials rather than paying over the top for players who didn't look to be worth what he was paying. A large number of players though the door ahead of Sunderland and GON says there will be more after that game. This is planned and strategic and possibly involves 2 - 4 loan players who won't be made available until the last couple of days of the window. Compare that to the madness of giving £12m for McAteer on was it deadline day ? to a club in financial crisis, a rival and for a player who very few of us thought to be worth such a sum. I have made one or two criticisms of MA but certainly in this transfer window he has delivered and NOT his fault if any of the signings are a flop because thats notb his job

number8 added 14:05 - Aug 18 Both clubs just negotiating that is the nature of most deals. I’m sure it happened for many of our signings so far but we just didn’t hear as much about it. Keep chipping away and see where we end up!!
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PortmanTerrorist added 14:15 - Aug 18 Plaudits to Mark Ashton that this is the first time this summer or negotiations are being played out on public....all down to selling Club presumably trying to drum up interest. Love how we have gone about our business this summer. Clearly many lessons learned and am sure we won't be pushed around here.
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BurnBabyBurns added 14:23 - Aug 18

Come on £25million at least, let's get it done MA. The likes of Taylor and Humphreys won't cut it in the PL and Nunez is not good good enough defensively I.e advanced 8 which would be risky with a no. 10 playing as well (will be either/or). Need another nimbers-wise with Lukic, Florentino and Matusiwa. Great club and international experience and his playing style suits the Prem.

Scuzzer added 14:34 - Aug 18 Walk away.
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Secondhalf added 14:35 - Aug 18 Las Malvinas may mean nothing much to you now but they do to the Argentinians. Having lived with a missile launcher a few feet from my front door in Gibraltar, I am relieved that we are going nowhere near the potential complexities this signing might have triggered. You may have noticed the "Animals" appelation at the world cup?
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blues1 added 15:15 - Aug 18 Secondhalf. What are you talking about? We are going near it. We clearly want him . And I suspect we will get him. People need to stop bringing politics into football. The Falklands have nothing to do with us trying to sign him. So leave that out of it. What happened at the world cup is irrelevant to us. This would be a top, top signing.
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PortmanTerrorist added 15:18 - Aug 18 Thought it was Stuart Watson vs TWTD on this story, but I guess they can both be right(ish) and Stuart's premise that their asking price has put us off has not been totally undermined....too good for that !
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SuffPunch added 15:19 - Aug 18 What's your name? Exequiel F you Exequiel.... Someone must have seen that meme. Saying that I hope we sign him
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JewellintheTown added 15:42 - Aug 18 "highest profile signing in the club’s history" Some fans might disagree with you there, Phil. Allan Hunter, Paul Mariner, Arnold Mühren, Frans Thijssen, David Johnson, Kevin O’Callaghan could all be contenders. Don't get me started on Omar Bogle in 2019!
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Foreverdon_Blue added 15:42 - Aug 18 Tractorog - I liked it!
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Paulc added 15:56 - Aug 18 @secondhalf what a crock of sh….. Jewellinthetown only those who can’t tell the difference between a player that has won the World Cup and also been a runner up versus some players who haven’t. Not saying they weren’t great players but there really is no comparison when the bench is “highest calibre”
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WorcesterBlue added 15:59 - Aug 18

I've been impressed with many of the signings though I do feel we've paid over the odds and maybe spent some money for the sake of it (Goalkeepers for example - only needed one of them). For Encisio paying over the odds is worth it as he has a clear desire to be here and is good already and has bags of potential. For Palacios who only plays half a season, scores few goals, doesn't really want to be here and brings other baggage I jusrt don't get it. There is better out there for a lot less and with alot more potential for involvement. And if we're going to splash the cash a last time, lets do it on a scoring No.8 or a striker.
This one has really got me scratching my head.

WorcesterBlue added 16:00 - Aug 18 A to the down voters, how many of you would have him in your fantasy league midfield ahead of even Lukic?
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Churchmans_crate added 16:17 - Aug 18 JewelintheTown - good point about most of those players, but Kevin O'Callaghan from Millwall does not really fit in with the other esteemed names, and despite the price tag I don't remember that much excitement about him when the deal happened.
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