‘I would be quite pleased’ – Roy Hodgson makes transfer deadline day admission about Crystal Palace’s squad
Roy Hodgson admitted that he would be “quite pleased” with the Crystal Palace team at his disposal if he was a fan looking at the squad at the end of the transfer window.
The Eagles have signed Jefferson Lerma on a free transfer from Bournemouth, Mathues Franca from Brazilian side Flamengo for an initial £17million and Dean Henderson from Manchester United for a fee that could rise to £20m.
Palace lost the club’s record goalscorer in Premier League history – Wilfried Zaha – after he turned down a £200,000 a week deal to join Turkish side Galatasaray.
However, they fought off Chelsea to convince Michael Olise to sign a new deal at Selhurst Park and also held onto Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Cheick Doucoure.
Picture : Keith Gillard
“If I was a Palace fan I would be quite pleased with the team we’re able to put out now,” said Hodgson.
“I would also be quite pleased with the bench we have been able to assemble as well.
“It’s not just 11, we have more players and competition than that.
“Bringing in people like Jefferson Lerma, Matheus Franca and Dean Henderson shows the club’s intention – we want to get stronger and make certain that what they have built on in these last couple of years, we can keep going.
“The danger with transfer windows is that the outside world make it a bit of a competition. ‘Who can spend the most money? We’re bringing in this one and that one. We’re going to South America and we’re going to Holland and buying all these players.’
“It becomes a competition. It’s almost as if fans have to be disappointed unless their club is spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds.
“Those clubs are not quite so happy when things don’t go so well and those hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds spent sees the club go into some sort of liquidation.
“There are times when people like myself need to put it out there that it’s not a question of piling up players or spending hundreds of millions, it’s a question of getting the right players who are going to help you and your club and will do a good job for your club.
“It’s not a competition.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD
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