Manor Solomon speaks on Crystal Palace move falling through

Manor Solomon has shed new light on the transfer saga that nearly brought him to Selhurst Park and aired his frustrations about his move to Crystal Palace falling through at the final hurdle.

Solomon was expected to join Crystal Palace last summer but in the end the deal did not go through and he was stuck in north London with Tottenham.

While he did eventually manage to leave Spurs, at least temporarily, through a loan move to Italian side Fiorentina, he has still made clear his disappointment in not completing his move to Crystal Palace.

From a Palace perspective, they were actively searching for additional depth in attack and had identified Solomon as someone who could fill multiple positions in attack for Oliver Glasner, namely the two directly in behind the centre forward.

It followed a previously productive loan spell at Leeds, during which Solomon scored 10 goals in 39 Championship matches.

The 26-year-old believed that he was going to move from north London to south London and his torrid time at Spurs was going to come to a rather timely end.

But, as so often happens in football and in negotiations over transfer dealings, on this occasion, things did not follow through as planned for Tottenham, Crystal Palace or Solomon himself.

According to the winger, Spurs wished to complete the singing of Randal Kolo Muani, but needed to free up a spot in their squad to be able to facilitate that move.

That frustrated Solomon, who then made it clear to his agent Pini Zahavi, that he wanted to leave Spurs there and then and complete his move to Palace.

He said: “I told him [Zahavi], ‘Come on, close the deal with Palace. I don’t want to be in a place like this.’

“There were negotiations between the clubs, and apparently, there was some bad blood.

“So the deal fell through at the last minute - the transfer window is over, and I didn’t want to stay at Tottenham. I was offended by them.”

There were previous reports that suggested that the paperwork to complete the deal was virtually completed before the move unexpectedly broke down.

Before Solomon and Zahavi could react, the window was closed and Solomon was trapped in north London.

Crystal Palace did not come back knocking again in January, instead opting to sign Solomon’s then teammate Brennan Johnson for £35 million, with the deal between Crystal Palace and Spurs this time going through successfully.

Solomon’s loan with Fiorentina was mildly productive, scoring twice in 16 appearances but he now returns to Spurs with his future no closer to being solved.

For Palace, it seems unlikely they will return this summer and so it will always remain a what if moment.