Joel Ward watched Crystal Palace sell some of his oldest teammates during the summer transfer window.
The 34-year-old has seen many players come and go at Selhurst Park since his arrival from Portsmouth back in 2012, but in Michael Olise, Joachim Andersen, Jordan Ayew and Sam Johnstone, Crystal Palace sold four of the more talented footballers the man from Emsworth has worked with.
Now, Joel Ward has told talkSPORT how he feels after Crystal Palace decided to sell his fellow defender Joachim Andersen to Fulham…
What Joel Ward said about Joachim Andersen
Interestingly, the Crystal Palace No.2 suggested that it was far more important to keep Marc Guehi in SE25 than the Denmark international.
Ward told talkSPORT: “From my perspective, I think obviously keeping Marc was integral for us to build around him. Joa was an exceptional player for us. I have not seen many players with the passing range that he has got and what he can do to unlock teams as well, but you can’t always keep everyone.”
A very sensible outlook.
Of course, Andersen was a superb player for us, and like Ward says, the Dane’s passing range was incredibly useful when it came to carving opponents open.
However, from a business sense, it was a smart sale, especially as Maxence Lacroix was swiftly signed from VfL Wolfsburg as a replacement.
Crystal Palace were right to sell the Denmark international
Andersen turns 29 next year, and cost £17m when Dougie Freedman signed him from Lyon back in 2021.
In contrast, Lacroix is only 24, and arrived from VfL Wolfsburg for a sum of £18m – so not only did Crystal Palace make £13m profit from the £30m sale of Andersen, but his replacement also has more time on his side at the highest level.
A sustainable swap – to say the least.
Ward shared a pitch with Andersen on 79 occasions, helping Crystal Palace average 1.32 points per game from those outings, while they also started an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley together in 2022.
Therefore, there will surely be some sadness from a personal sense in Andersen leaving, but as aforesaid, from a business perspective, you can see why the deal was sanctioned.
