Yannick Bolasie has agreed a contract extension at Crystal Palace with his manager, Alan Pardew, confident he can maintain the winger’s development at Selhurst Park before he eventually moves on to a bigger stage.
Bolasie, secured from the fringes of the Bristol City team three years ago, still had two years to run on his existing contract but has now pledged his future to Palace through to 2019.
The south London club did not receive any offers for the 26-year-old DR Congo international – a player Pardew had optimistically valued at £40m last season – over the summer, but there is an acceptance that interest will surface if the player continues to add more consistency and threat to his game.
“Yannick has just agreed a three-and-a-half-year extension to stay at this football club,” said Pardew, whose side travel to Watford on Sunday. “I’ve said all along this guy needs to deliver the final moment and, when does that, he won’t be here for three-and-a-half years.
“So my first priority is to secure him and develop him. And if I can develop him and take this forward, that’s great. If a big club comes, we can take that money and use it to take the club forward. It’s a simple equation.
“I spoke to the Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino, after last Sunday’s game and, as far as he knew, there had been no interest in Yannick going to Spurs. We had no bid for him. But we know that, if Yannick became available for £5m, we’d have a queue out the door for him. But he isn’t [available for that amount now].
“He’d be a lot more money than that. This is a good news story for the football club, securing this guy. Not only is he an exciting player who our fans love, but he is a great person: unspoilt really by fame and the success he has had already. I’m really pleased with that.”
The Palace co-chairman, Steve Parish, had made clear Bolasie’s valued status at the club earlier this month. “Yannick is an exciting player, a talisman for the club in some ways as someone who has been with us a while now,” said Parish.
“I’m very pleased, as is Alan, that he’s still a Palace player because it’s not all about buying players, but also keeping the good ones we’ve got. The manager was very clear who his key players are, and Yannick is someone we’d love to keep for a long time at the club.”
