Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Everton reportedly wanted to sign Chelsea-owned striker Michy Batshuayi before he joined Crystal Palace on loan.
According to The Independent, Tottenham, Everton, West Ham and Real Betis all wanted to sign Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea on January transfer deadline day.
However, it was Palace who were able to secure the services of the 25-year-old striker on loan until the end of the season, and manager Hodgson has explained why the Eagles were able to do a deal with Chelsea over the transfer of the Belgium international striker.
Hodgson told The Independent: “A lot of it has to do with the relationship with Chelsea and Crystal Palace, Chelsea people and our chairman, Steve Parish.
“I thought we did a very good job last year with for Chelsea with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, he did a great job for us, we didn’t exactly send him back as a worse player or a player with less value, I think that stands in our favour.
“He came to us as a player from the Chelsea reserves who very rarely got a game outside of the League Cup, he went back an England international whose value will have probably tripled or quadrupled, so I think you could also say Crystal Palace put a lot of money into Chelsea’s pocket.”
Crystal Palace debut
Batshuayi made his debut for Palace at the weekend, as the Belgian striker featured in the Premier League game against Fulham at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The former Marseille striker did not start the match, but he came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute.
Batshuayi had an immediate impact on the match, as it was his saved effort on 87 minutes that allowed Palace teammate Jeffrey Schlupp to score the home team’s second goal in the 2-0 win.
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