The club’s director of sport Frank Arnesen told the south Londoners they won’t offer more than £2m for Routledge, who will become a free agent at the end of the season if Palace manage to hold onto him before the transfer window closes next Tuesday. It was reported Spurs made a second bid for the 20-year-old winger in the space of five days. After the sides met in the Premiership on Saturday, where Routledge played against Spurs despite the speculation he was on the verge of signing a deal to become a Tottenham player. Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan once again rejected Spurs’ advances for Routledge who has declined a new contract at Selhurst Park.
Should no club make an acceptable offer in the next few days, Routledge will remain a Palace player until the end of the season Palace will expect to receive £1.5m at a tribunal, the same amount Spurs offered to pay for the player last Tuesday.
Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie has already made it clear Routledge’s refusal to sign an extension to his contract wouldn’t influence his team selection, as highlighted by his inclusion last weekend.
"We turned down a bid of £2m from Spurs. A reasonable fee for him would be a much bigger amount. If Wayne is still here next Tuesday after the transfer window has closed I will not be unhappy," he said.
Despite a good return on recent trips to Selhurst Park – three wins from four previous visits, Tottenham have now failed to score in three consecutive occasions. While Palace gave their survival chances a huge boost, Martin Jol’s side collapsed by conceding three goals in the space of eleven second-half minutes.
As well dropping eight league points, Tottenham’s excellent defensive record away from home has disappeared in January - proving the jinx of the Barclays manager of the month award is alive and well. The 3-0 reverse also meant that Spurs are still looking to register their first derby win of the season.
"Palace deserved to win. We were missing spark today," said a desolate Spurs coach afterwards.