Palace boss Roy Hodgson outlines transfer talk approach as he is asked about Celtic striker swoop

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

Roy Hodgson looks set to implement his own transfer policy – not to talk about players linked with Crystal Palace.

One national newspaper today linked the Eagles with a £25million move for Celtic attacker Odsonne Edouard.

But Hodgson, conductiing his pre-match media duties before tomorrow night’s Premier League home game against Chelsea, told the South London Press:  “I’m not really prepared to discuss individual names because I’m pretty certain now – because it’s getting to the stage that the transfer window is about to open and speculation hots up – that any press conference I have I am going to be asked about this player or that player.

“I really don’t want to get involved in that. I’m pretty certain that most of the players you come up as a potential for us I will have known about and possibly even admired their play.

“There’s a long way to go between looking at and admiring a player and bringing him in to the club.”

Palace have failed to hit the back of the net in their last three Premier League games and occupy second-bottom place in the top-flight scoring charts with just 28 goals across 33 matches.

As recently as last week, Hodgson had just one fit, experienced striker available to him in Jordan Ayew, with Christian Benteke injured, Alexander Sorloth and Connor Wickham out on loan and Everton loanee Cenk Tosun having returned to his parent club with a season-ending injury.