Should Nathaniel Clyne stay at Palace?

Nathaniel Clyne has been offered an improved deal to stay at Crystal Palace but there is uncertainty whether he will stay at the club.

The defenders contract is up this summer and he has been linked with some of the best teams in the country such as Manchester United and Arsenal but would it be better for his future to stay at Crystal Palace and gain some more match day experience instead of sitting on the bench and only playing in cup games. There is no doubt he is a very good player and is rightly linked away however I believe he is at the right club, alongside some other young talented players like Wilfried Zaha as well as a young manager that I think will go far in the game and has looked very impressive so far and could be considered one of the managers of the year. Dougie Freedman is doing the right thing with his youngsters as well because he has been playing them and praising them but he has also been mentoring them and this is why I think Clyne in particular will stay at the club at least for another season.

They are 16^th in the table which doesn’t seem that impressive but with how things have gone over the last few years this is a massive improvement and the fans can see the club is going in the right direction. The young right back has been part of this improvement for many years now after making his debut in the 2008-09 season, winning many awards since then including the Crystal Palace Young Player of the Year twice, the Football League Young Player of the year award and even Crystal Palace’s Player of the Year award which is remarkable seen as though he is still only 21. It has been a meteoric rise for the youngster and even he probably can’t believe how well his career has gone and if he was at another club would he have played in as many games? The answer is no and because he has the experience and the ability he will probably go a lot further in the game than someone that comes through a Premier League youth team. How many 21 year olds can say they have played in every game in a single season?

Young players need their rest and it is a worry that he might burn out further into his career but I do not think this will be the case, he is a fantastic prospect and the Palace fans can be proud that he has represented his club in such an accomplished and mature way. They may feel slightly betrayed if he does leave in the summer but it can sometimes be difficult for young players to make such tough decisions. Palace may not get as much money as they should for him because it will most likely go to a tribunal and they will decide the fee.

In my opinion, he should stay for another year but even if he doesn’t he has done a lot for Palace and was thrown in at the deep and succeeded where a lot of players would have failed. So well done to Nathaniel Clyne and I hope he gets selected for the Olympic squad and makes all the Palace fans proud.