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Palace Play Down New Johnson Link
Thu 28 Jul, 8:09 AM
Assistant manager Neil McDonald has insisted Andrew Johnson is happy to stay at Crystal Palace, despite new rumours of a bid from Everton.
Blues manager David Moyes was reported to have telephoned his counterpart at Palace, Iain Dowie, with a view to making a ?million offer for the England international.
Although Johnson has expressed his wish to move to a Premiership club to keep alive his chances of making England's World Cup squad next summer, McDonald stressed that the striker remains committed to Palace.
"I know nothing about the approach from Everton," said McDonald. "Andrew does not look unhappy to me, and it does not look as though he is distracted [by the rumours].
"Unless anyone says otherwise, I believe he will start the season with us, and I believe we are all pulling in the same direction. Andrew is a model pro."
Johnson had little chance to show his quality as Palace were outclassed by Serie A side Internazionale in Wednesday night's pre-season friendly, beaten 2-0 at Selhurst Park.
Obafemi Martins opened the scoring for Inter in the first half after the Nerazzurri had missed several chances, and substitute Giorgios Karagounis made it two with a curling effort midway through the second period.
Brazilian striker Adriano - a rumoured target for Chelsea earlier in the summer - looked short of match sharpness, but he still managed to trouble Palace with his close control and impressive strength, while Martins, David Pizarro, Esteban Cambiasso and Dejan Stankovic also caught the eye.
The kick-off was delayed by 20 minutes because Inter's team coach was stuck in traffic, but their manager Roberto Mancini insisted his team had no problem playing in England.
Inter had initially cancelled their tour, citing the attacks on the London transport system as the cause, but they ultimately agreed to travel in the face of anger from Palace, as well as Norwich, Leicester and Portsmouth - their other opponents on this tour.
But this win made it two out of two following their victory over Leicester.
Mancini said: "We are happy to be here. None of the players were afraid, and we got a fantastic reception from the fans.
"Palace are a good side, and I think they will have no problems winning promotion back to the Premiership."
McDonald was equally complimentary about the Italian club, whom he claimed had set Palace a standard at which to aim.
He added: "You could not ask for a better work-out, and I hope we can play Inter at this stage of every pre-season from now on.
"Our players have to strive to be at the level Inter's players have reached - they are world-class." |
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