Keeping Olise and Eze attest to Crystal Palace’s ambition-Hodgson

Crystal Palace managing to keep hold of Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise this summer is a statement of intent regarding their ambitions, according to boss Roy Hodgson.

Both midfielders had been linked with moves away this summer, but winger Olise, 21, has signed a new long-term contract to stave off interest from Chelsea.

Eze, meanwhile, will also remain at the club despite interest from Manchester City and others.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Hodgson revealed his delight at keeping the pair at the club past the end of the summer transfer window.

"For me as a manager it's an ideal situation that we've been able to keep hold of these players," he said. "Michael was very close to going, but we managed to get him to commit his long-term future here, which is a really good thing.

"We'll never be able to stop the vultures circling. When you're a club of our stature and you have players like ours. There will always be teams coming in for them.

"But it's a strong statement of intent from the club that we've been able to persuade those players that their future is here, and you don't always have to covet a place in the squad of a team a bit higher up the league.

"Sometimes we can't change that scenario. But we have to do as much as we can to keep our best players and give ourselves a chance.

"And when we do sell players one has to hope that the money generated will be widely used and circulated within the club to replace those that have left. You develop a reputation of being a club that can develop and produce good players."

It looked to all the world as though Olise was going to make the short hop across London to join Chelsea last month, only for the club to dramatically reveal he had signed a new long-term deal.

Hodgson says while they did all they could to convince him to remain at Selhurst Park, ultimately it was the midfielder's own decision to stay.

"We put all our arguments to him about why it would be a good idea for him to stay," says Hodgson. "Whether it be his development or him being one of the first names on the teamsheet.

"We said all the things you'd say to a young player who has the chance to make a big move. But it was down to him in the end. It was he who made the decision.

"We just put it to him what we wanted, We didn't do much more than that. He's an intelligent boy and was capable of making his own choice."