Andros Townsend says Crystal Palace players have been told that decisions will be made on expiring contracts “towards the end of the season”. The club has an unusually large number of players entering the final months of their deals, with nearly half of the first-team squad set to be available on free transfers in the summer. Townsend says that the players have been told contract decisions will be made “towards the end of the season”, with safety all but assured.
Andros Townsend said: “I think that we’ve been told as players that they’re going to make decisions towards the end of the season. We have to keep doing what we’re doing and that’s it, basically: we’re contracted until July 1st. So until July 1st, we have to give everything for the cause.”
Townsend has been in and out of the team this year with the arrival of Ebere Eze significantly reducing his playing time. However, injuries in attack to Wilfried Zaha and Jeff Schlupp have meant more time in the team since the turn of the year. The 29-year-old admits that the uncertainty over his future has affected him on the field, but says it is just an unfortunate byproduct of the current environment.
Andros Townsend added: “It’s difficult, yes, but unfortunately that’s the times we’re living in. We’re living in a Covid era where clubs have obviously lost a lot of money through lack of fans over the last 12 months, so unfortunately that’s the world we live in. If I go back to, I think February, I was out of the team, I wasn’t playing well and obviously the contract is running down. The turn of the year is when you start thinking, ‘right, I’ve got six months left here’, and I think I did really struggle. When I was coming on I was always thinking ‘right, I need to play really well here, I need to play really well and earn a new contract’, and it wasn’t working. It’s only since then that I’ve kind of realised that what will be will be, you just do what you’re currently doing and things will work themselves out.”
Townsend also stated that the club are not yet in talks with any players over extending their stay at the club, and that he is allowing his representatives to negotiate options elsewhere before the end of the season.
Andros Townsend said: “At the moment, Palace are speaking to nobody, so we’re all in the same boat. But you don’t really speak about other clubs you’re speaking to – you let your agent deal with it. That’s what I’ve done, I let my agent deal with it. As soon as the season ends, May 23rd, then we’ll sit down, have a chat and go through options. But at the moment, just let me do my thing. And I think that everyone else is kind of doing the same.”
