Crystal Palace have decided against sacking Oliver Glasner despite him accusing the club’s board of abandoning him and the rest of his squad by selling captain Marc Guéhi to Manchester City 24 hours before they were due to face Sunderland.
Glasner’s outburst following the 2-1 defeat, when the Austrian also admitted he doesn’t care if he sees out his contract until the end of the season having already confirmed he will leave Selhurst Park, is understood to have dismayed Palace’s chair, Steve Parish. He was said to be weighing up if there was any other option than parting company with the manager who led Palace to their first major trophy when they won the FA Cup only eight months ago after Glasner went public over his dissatisfaction in two extraordinary press conferences.
But having held talks with the Austrian on Sunday morning, it is understood that Parish would like Glasner to see out his contract until the end of the season. He has been involved in the club’s transfer plans for this month having already brought in Brennan Johnson from Tottenham and Palace expect him to turn things around after a run of 10 games without a win in all competitions.
Glasner’s disenchantment with the club’s inactivity in the transfer market since their FA Cup triumph was brought to a head by the impending sale of Guéhi to City. The England defender missed the trip to the Stadium of Light as a result but is understood to be completing his medical in Manchester on Sunday ahead of his £20m move to join Pep Guardiola’s side.
Glasner revealed before the Sunderland game that he would be leaving at the end of this contract in the summer – an announcement that is believed to have caught Parish by surprise. But it was his claim that “we feel that we’re being abandoned” when informed Guéhi would not be part of his squad at 10.30am on Friday morning, after Palace went a 10th game in all competitions without a victory that angered the hierarchy at Selhurst Park.
“Your heart gets torn out twice in a season, one day before a game,” said Glasner as he also referenced Eberechi Eze’s club-record sale to Arsenal in August. “It’s tough to survive. That’s how it feels right now. We feel that we’re being abandoned. There’s no support. Everybody’s disappointed. We’ve been playing with 12 to 13 players for weeks now. On the bench I had just kids.”
It is understood that Palace feel that they have acted in the club’s best interest by accepting the offer for Guéhi given that he was out of contract in the summer and would have been able to leave for free. Glasner had threatened to resign on the last day of the summer transfer window, when it seemed Guéhi was going to move to Liverpool with no time for Palace to sign a replacement for their captain.
Asked whether he needed more support from the board after the Sunderland game, Glasner said: “I don’t need any support. Crystal Palace needs it. Crystal Palace are fine to end the season like this – with Oliver Glasner, with another manager, I don’t know, I don’t care. They are fine with this. OK, they can do it if they want to play a more successful season. For me, it feels like we just wait until all the players are back. It will be OK, 42 points at the end, it’s all good, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter how we are acting. It’s just my feeling.”
Juventus are expected to return with a new offer for Jean-Philippe Mateta in the coming days, although they want the France striker on a loan deal that would include an obligation to make the move permanent at the end of the season. Mateta has fewer than 18 months left on his contract at Selhurst Park and is keen on joining the Serie A side.
It is understood that Palace, who are still in talks with Angers over a move for 19-year-old forward Sidiki Cherif, floated the idea of including Jonathan David in the deal but Juventus want to keep the Canada striker and he has no interest in moving to south London after arriving in Serie A from Lille last summer.
