Former Palace Boss Frank de Boer Reveals Reason for Eagles Passing Up on Star Winger in the Summer

Former Crystal Palace boss Frank de Boer has revealed that the Eagles' move for Spartak Moscow star Quincy Promes didn't work out because they couldn't afford him - or so they claimed.

De Boer joined the London side at the beginning of the season but was sacked just 10 weeks into his stint as manager, with Palace losing all four of their opening matches without scoring a single goal.

The 47-year-old spoke to Russian outlet Sport Express recently and revealed his ambitions in the transfer market when he took up the post at Selhurst Park, noting that the club would have gotten Promes if they'd been willing to pay Spartak's asking price.

He said: “The Premier League is a very good option for Quincy. A really good player. When I was at Palace, we watched him closely. I wanted him at Palace, but we didn’t have much money.

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“The club have previously spent €38m on Christian Benteke last season, so they told me they couldn’t afford to pay €30m for Promes. That’s the reason why the deal collapsed.”

Much was expected from De Boer when he stepped through the doors at Palace, but he failed quite miserably, with the club only picking up some form after hiring Roy Hodgson.

Eagles star Wilfried Zaha, who gave his take after the manager's sacking, blamed De Boer's failure on his insistence on playing possession-based football.

“He (De Boer) wanted to make Palace into a team that had more possession,” Zaha explained.

“But obviously some players aren't as comfortable on the ball as he would like. That didn't really help us at the time.

“There wasn't really the right mixture (of players) for the way we wanted to play.”