Latics capture Palace defender Fitz Hall
By Alan G
June 26 2006
Latics have signed Crystal Palace centre-back Fitz Hall, for a reported £3 Million.
The 25-year-old, who spent two years at
“It’s always difficult leaving a club where you’ve been so happy, and I’d like to thank the Palace fans for being so good to me,” said Hall.
“But, as a player, the Premiership is where you want to be and when a club as ambitious as
“
After failing numerous times to sign a high-profile player, Latics manager Paul Jewell is relieved to have finally captured a target:
“Fitz is a terrific capture for us, and it’s a great boost that we’ve beaten off such stiff competition to land him,” said Jewell.
“We’ve been tracking him a long time, but of course Palace were very reluctant to let go of such an important player.
“The
“He’s strong, athletic, aggressive and - most importantly - has bags of pace.
“His versatility is another big asset. He’s as comfortable at right-back as he is at centre-half and that’s extremely useful at this level.
“The lad won’t be fazed by the Premiership. He’s played at this level before and I was extremely impressed with how he handled the challenge.
“I think he’s an even better player now. At 25 years of age, he’s in the prime of his career.
“His attitude and temperament is spot on and he’s shown a willingness and hunger to keep improving and get even better.”
Jewell added that he was confident of making more signings to strengthen the squad over the course of the close-season:
“It’s a great boost to have completed our first signing of the summer and I’m sure this will give us the momentum to go on and bring in our other targets,” he said.
“So much work is going on behind the scenes with regard to transfers and I’m confident we’ll have some more new faces in before pre-season training gets under way in early July.”