by EZRA STUART

BARBADOS' English-based footballer Paul Ifill was yesterday signed by English League Championship side Crystal Palace from Premier League side Sheffield United for over

$2 million.

The 27-year-old winger agreed to a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Eagles who are 15th in the second division championship table after joining on a & pound;750 000 (BDS$2.6 million)

transfer fee.

"I have come to a club which is geared for the Premier League again, and that is what we are hoping for," Ifill said in an interview after the signing.

"It wasn't a difficult choice and I'm looking forward to it now. I was talking to another club, but my agent rang and told me that Palace were interested, and from there it was pretty straightforward," he added.

Ifill scored nine goals in 42 appearances for Sheffield after joining from Millwall in May 2005.

He was also Barbados' leading marksman with six goals in the team's successful first and second round Digicel Caribbean Cup group matches but his new contract has ruled him out of the finals which kick off in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday. According to a report on the BBC Sports website, he will be in Palace's squad for Saturday's trip to Coventry City.

Ifill's loss is another major blow to Barbados' chances of advancing to the last four and qualifying for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The news worsened for Barbados as Doncaster Rovers' big striker Mark McCammon was injured over the weekend and has been ordered to rest for two weeks.

Barbados will now play the Soca Warriors in the first game at the Hasely Crawford Stadium at 6 p.m. Friday, without Ifill and the injured quartet of Rommell Brathwaite, Elvis Defreitas, Michael Forde and Bryan Neblett.

With Ifill no longer available, the Barbados Football Association was busy yesterday making travel arrangements for Claytons Kola Tonic Notre Dame utility player Rudy Grosvenor to join

the team in Trinidad.