 In October 2007, Birmingham manager Steve Bruce, who likened Palacios to a young Paul Ince, said that Birmingham intended to make his loan a permanent transfer.but the player's absence following his brother's kidnap meant that new manager Alex McLeish had not seen enough of him to sign him permanently.On 11 January 2008, Palacios re-joined Bruce at Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee, and made his debut the following day against Derby County.