‘Not Interested’: Crystal Palace boss has just provided update on Manchester City’s transfer target Eze

Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson says he is certain the club do not want to sell midfielder Eberechi Eze who has been linked to Manchester City in the last 48 hours.

Eze, has just one year left on his contract after this season and has been consistently linked with a move away from the club to teams including Tottenham and Chelsea in the past.

Last season he scored 10 goals and bagged four assists, his best since moving to Palace two years ago and is now working his way back to the England team following an injury he suffered in his first season.

Palace have lost Wilfried Zaha who was the highest earner but did well to hold on to Michael Olise who like Eberechi Eze was strongly linked with an exit earlier in the summer. Palace boss Hodgson called his contract extension as “best possible news”.

The 71-year-old speaking ahead of the game against Brentford says he was aware of the interest in his players but would think the club was not interested in doing business at this stage of the transfer window. He said : “I imagine Eberechi Eze would be right at the top of those players they are not interested in selling.”

The Eagles finished midtable last seas and will look to have a similar campaign and preserving their Premier Leagie status. There had been reports that striker Jean-Philippe Mateta had played his last game at the club but the Palace boss insisted the only reason he missed the Arsenal game was because he was injured and would be on the bench tomorrow.

He said: “: “Not that I’m aware of. He’s on the bench tomorrow.”

Palace lost to Arsenal on Monday night and will look for swift return to winning ways against the Bees this weekend.