ROY HODGSON has confirmed he wants to snap up Nathan Ferguson this summer – six months after an £8million deal for the West Brom star collapsed on deadline day.
Ferguson, 19, failed a medical in January which stopped him completing his move to Crystal Palace but Hodgson has retained strong interest in the defender since then.
Ferguson has been a star of West Brom’s promotion bid this seasonCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Now the left-back has rejected the offer of a new contract with promotion chasing West Brom and will leave The Hawthorns next week – with Selhurst Park his likely destination.
Ferguson is close to recovering from the knee problem which blocked his move last winter and is finally on the verge of sealing his switch to the Premier League.
Palace boss Hodgson said: “Nathan of course is one of the players we were keen to bring in in January and it didn’t work out due to the injuries, of course he is still very much on our radar.
“Nathan has great potential and has the sort of qualities that we are looking for and that is why we tried to sign him.
“There are lots of other players because of the work Dougie Freedman has been doing all year, more than that really the three years since we joined up together, it has all been in relation to the type of player we think Crystal Palace need, the type of player we think would be good at Crystal Palace.
“Those that will come in and make our squad stronger and help out the very good 11 we have at the moment.
“I would say the record we have in that at the moment is very good, all the players who have come in: Gary Cahill, James McCarthy, Max Meyer, Jordan Ayew, Vicente Guaita, have all come in and done a fantastic job, made us stronger and yet they have been Palace players.
“That is the important thing, they have fitted in so well with the ethos that the club tries to promote and protect and that will be very much in Doug, mine and Steve Parish’s mind going forward.
“It is not the question of we are going to bring this player in because he happens to be 20-years of age.
“We are going to bring a player in I hope that whatever age he happens to be, will be the right man to come and help us become a better football team.”
Roy Hodgson is optimistic of finally signing Ferguson after their January near-missCredit: Reuters
Liverpool v Crystal Palace – Premier League match preview
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
