Roy: New boy Nath can keep Joel keen
ROY HODGSON expects Crystal Palace new-boy Nathan Ferguson to provide stiff competition to first-choice right-back Joel Ward next season.
The England Under-20s international has been announced as the Eagles’ first summer capture.
And boss Hodgson hopes he can help fill the glaring hole left by Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s big-money move to Manchester United.
Ferguson was expected to have been a January signing but a medical flagged up a knee injury which required surgery.
Hodgson said: “We are congratulating ourselves on having signed a top-class young player who, we think, is the right way forward for us.
“He’s a player who, even from the offset, will be a real candidate for a place in the starting 11.
“It was good to see him at the training ground, meet him, have a long conversation and welcome him to the club.
“He’s still recovering from injury, so he wouldn’t have been able to join in training even had we wanted him to.
“And, secondly, there’s a tribunal which has to fix the amount of the transfer fee, so nothing can happen in that respect.”
Palace chairman Steve Parish has been impressed by the youngster on and off the pitch, as Hodgson aims to bring down the average age of the squad.
He said: “The football club here through the years has always looked for qualities off the pitch in terms of people who conduct themselves well, in terms of their respect for their fellow players and for the fans and everyone around the club.
“There’s been lots of difficult moments and lots of moments where we’ve been short of players or suffering from injury or not being able to sign the players and strengthen the squad as we’d have wanted to do.”