February 4 2005

Wayne Routledge

Crystal Palace assistant manager Kit Symons believes holding on to Wayne Routledge until the end of the season feels like "signing a new player", by Stuart Pink.

The 20-year-old winger was widely tipped to join Tottenham during the transfer window, but Palace rejected two bids for the England U21 star so he will remain at Palace until at least the end of the season.

Symons said: "It's a massive boost for us, in some ways it's like having a new signing.

"A lot of people expected him to go but we desperately wanted him to stay. Working with Iain Dowie will improve him as a player, come the summer he will be an even better player."

Spurs reportedly increased their offer to just over £2million for Routledge, but the figure was not enough to prise the winger away and Spurs will now have to wait until the summer to get their man, where a tribunal will set the fee.

Spurs boss Martin Jol said: "With Routledge I am happy to leave it until the summer.

"I have been able to bring in more than I thought and no one will leave, we need as many options as possible."

As Jol stated, Spurs softened the blow on losing out on Routledge by splashing out £8million on promising Nottingham Forest duo Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, whereas Palace ended up making no signings, despite Iain Dowie being confident at least one would sign by the end of last week.

Symons said: "There were a few players we were looking at and for different reasons they weren't done.

"We're a bit disappointed, but the window's come and gone and we're happy with the bunch of players we've got."

West Ham striker Bobby Zamora looked the most likely of Iain Dowie's targets to sign, but his £1million move allegedly broke down after unsuccessful talks between both parties, plus a reported bid for Columbian international Jairo Patino was turned down because his club only wanted a permanent move.

Inter Milan defender Francesco Coco was another target, but Inter decided to keep him as cover for first choice left-back Giuseppe Favalli.

Palace also had a number of players on trial during the window including Russian striker Dmitri Bulykin, Argentinean striker Nicolas Pavlovich and attacking midfielder Sergei Dadu, but as trial players are not allowed to play in reserve games, it's a hard task to predict whether these players are worth the gamble.

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