Crystal Palace Confirm Summer Deal for Vicente Guaita After Failing With January Offer
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed on Friday that a summer deal to sign 31-year-old Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita on a free transfer from Getafe has been arranged to help strengthen for next season.
Guaita, who has less than six months left on his current contract and was therefore able to talk to other clubs, was heavily linked with a January move to Selhurst Park.
However, Palace were unable to agree a transfer fee before the window shut on Wednesday night, with one Getafe official claiming the Eagles "tried to our pants down" over a deal.
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Hodgson, speaking in his pre-match press conference, has now confirmed that the former Valencia player will join Palace in the summer instead.
"We have signed a pre-contract with Vicente Guaita so he will join us on 1st July," Hodgson is quoted as saying by the Croydon Advertiser.
"We would have liked of course to have tried to persuade the club for us to sign him in January, but they didn't want to do that, which is their right because his contract with them does not run out until the summer."
