Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has admitted that he went to bed last night not knowing whether the club would be able to sign Michy Batshuayi or not.
The Belgium international striker joined the Eagles on loan from Chelsea until the end of the season, with the deal coming close to the wire on transfer deadline day.
West Ham and Real Betis had been linked with loan moves earlier in the day, but the 25-year opted to move to Selhurst Park instead. However, Hodgson had no clue a deal had been done until the following morning.
Talking about how the club got the deal done, and how his early bed-time prevented him from knowing about the deal’s conclusion until the morning, as reported by SurreyLive, Hodgson said:
I think I knew from [sporting director] Doug Freedman that it had possibly been agreed at about 8.30pm in the evening, and that he was on his way to finalise the deal.
But I don’t know the ins and outs of the deal and what paperwork had to be done, I leave all that to the experts.
But I knew it was a distinct possibility and one that we wanted to pursue. And if we had any chance to bring this deal home, we would do everything we can to do that.
Doug then kept me informed until about 11 o’clock and I knew just about as everyone else, because it was that close.
There was certainly no attempt on our side to keep it late to add a bit of drama, it was that dramatic, and I think our form and application [the deal sheet] was maybe one of the last ones in, maybe the last one in, I am not sure.
So then it was a question of international clearance, which of course had to come after the deadline, so I didn’t find out unfortunately, because I was tired yesterday, after a tiring day and a late night on Wednesday, so I was not in the mood or didn’t have the ability to stay awake until possibly one o’clock in the morning.
So I actually went to bed not knowing, but it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to Doug’s text this morning telling me it was all done, and a text from my son who was out in America, who had been watching it all the way through because of the time difference, and he congratulated us on getting the player we wanted.
