April 20 2007

Dougie Freedman

Dougie Freedman is on the verge of signing a new contract with Crystal Palace after snubbing offers to quit Selhurst Park.

Freedman's current deal expires in the summer and he revealed at least two clubs have contacted him to ask if he wanted to join them.

But the Scottish striker is happy to commit to the Eagles and believes he will sign on again soon.

He said: "There has been contact direct to me saying 'What's your plans next season?' and my answer to a couple of clubs that would interest me is 'Palace is first and foremost where I want to stay and it looks like I'll be staying'.

"The feedback I've been getting then is that if anything changes to let them know.

"I want to stay and the manager and chairman have said they want to keep me, so you can't get any better than that.

"I'm desperate for the deal to get done and there will be a lot of disappointed people if it doesn't happen."

Freedman is so confident that he will get the deal he wants that he has been negotiating terms himself.

While many agents fear to step into Simon Jordan's office to try and bargain with the notoriously demanding chairman, Freedman is relishing the challenge.

"I've got a decent relationship with the chairman and have talked to him about different matters over the years, so I may as well just talk to him about my contract," jhe said.

"The last one was done by Bob Dowie but me and Simon sat down and thrashed out the one before that in about half an hour. He was happy and I was happy - I'm sure we’re heading that way again.

"These days it's never done over a day, it always involves a few chats. It's just a matter of the club sitting down, doing their finances up at Selhurst Park, and then coming down to the training ground and we'll do something."