Speaking to the media regarding the future of the club captain, the Palace manager utilised a complex comparison involving home maintenance to describe the hierarchy's stance on a potential winter sale. When asked if the club could resist significant offers for the centre-back, Glasner presented a scenario where immediate financial requirements might override the desire to retain a key asset on the pitch.
“Nothing in life is one-dimensional,” the Austrian manager said. “Let’s say you have a nice car but you need money because it’s cold and a window [at home] is broken, and somebody offers you crazy money for your car.
“You say, ‘No, I don’t want to sell my car. I love my car. But I don’t want to freeze.’ Then you say, ‘If I can get the window and even a new roof, you can have the car. But I would like to keep it.’”
The manager applied this logic directly to the situation surrounding the England international, who has entered the final six months of his contract at Selhurst Park. The dilemma facing the board is whether to accept a substantial fee now or risk losing a player rated at £50 million for nothing when his contract expires in July.
“It’s the same with [the player],” Glasner continued. “Everybody wants him to play for Crystal Palace, sign a new contract and stay here for ever.
“On the other side, the contract ends this summer and if somebody is coming and you are freezing, there will be a moment when the club says, ‘Now the financial issue is more important than the sporting issue and we have to do it.’”