TBM I'm confused why we only loaned him for 5 months and not the whole season...
And what happened about this agreed fee we had, I'm guessing he turned us down
We loaned him because we ran out of time to do the paperwork for a permanent move and there were questions about whether he'd be the same player as he was before his injury. We allegedly had a deal in place with a fee agreed and the transfer in principle ready to go. Then he performed well Warnock got sacked, Palace needed more strikers and Pardew offered him the chance to be part of a Premier League Squad. Even if we were offering the same wages as Palace (which was never going to be the case) and the fee was already in place, why would he sign on to us and play regularly mid-table Championship football, when he could be playing occasional Premier League football.
Once the route to carry on and actually play at Palace opened up for him, we had no chance.