Crystal Palace have a number of talented youngsters coming through the ranks right now, in what is certainly a very good time for the club.
Crystal Palace are flying high under manager Oliver Glasner. Despite a 2-1 defeat against Everton before the break, the Eagles sit in 6th place of the Premier League table and are playing in Europe this season too.
After Crystal Palace won the FA Cup last season, the club qualified for the Conference League and they got their campaign off to a winning start earlier in the month, beating Dynamo Kyiv 2-0.
Glasner is working wonders at Selhurst Park. The club are also making a nice habit of developing younger players, in names like Ebere Eze, Michael Olise and Adam Wharton in recent years.
But one name who made his debut for the club at just 15 years old was John Bostock. Fast-forward 18 years later and he’s a free agent, aged 33.
What happened to John Bostock?
After making his Palace debut at 15 years old in October 2007, Bostock eventually left for Spurs in 2008 with just four Premier League appearances under his belt at Palace. With Spurs, he made zero, spending his five years at the club out on loan before leaving for Royal Antwerp in 2013.
Since then, he’s played around the world but returned to England in 2021 with Doncaster Rovers. He was there for a season before spending two seasons at Notts County, then joining Solihull Moors ahead of last season, where he was released after one campaign.
Now 33 years old and a free agent, Bostock’s career is certainly one of those ‘what if’ ones. But he’s played football for some big clubs in and out of England, racking up 370 career appearances along the way.
| John Bostock’s career | Apps | Goals | Assists |
| Notts County | 66 | 4 | 3 |
| OH Leuven | 58 | 20 | 7 |
| Lens | 49 | 6 | 7 |
| Doncaster | 43 | – | 3 |
| Solihull Moors | 41 | – | 3 |
| Royal Antwerp | 31 | 1 | – |
| Toulouse | 20 | – | 1 |
| Swindon Town | 13 | – | 2 |
| Hull City | 11 | 2 | – |
| Brentford | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Nott’m Forest | 9 | – | 2 |
| Toronto | 9 | – | 1 |
| Bursaspor | 8 | – | – |
| Crystal Palace | 5 | – | – |
| Sheff Wed | 4 | – | – |
| Tottenham | 4 | – | – |
What John Bostock said about the rumoured Barcelona move
It was rumoured, when he was at Crystal Palace, that Bostock was offered a contract by Barcelona. Some reports even suggested that Barca had offered him a 10-year deal at 14 years old, and speaking in an interview with Crystal Palace in 2018, Bostock confirmed the Barca rumours.
He explained: “It was probably around the age of 14 or 15 when Barcelona made their interest [known]. They actually offered me a contract and asked me to sign for several years, which was obviously very attractive but we didn’t think it would be in our best interests.
“Growing up in England you just think about the clubs here, you don’t think of going abroad as an option. So when that came it was something you really had to consider.
“I was coming to the end of my last year at school, so would have been close to signing scholar terms [at Palace], and I wanted to stay, but obviously other factors came into it, agents and other peoples’ advice.”
His career could’ve and probably would’ve been a lot different if he had signed for Barcelona at the time. But Bostock clearly had a lot of love for Crystal Palace, who return to Premier League action against Bournemouth next weekend.
