Slowly starting to rot in the stands at Selhurst Park, there are few reasons for Steve Mandanda to stay at Crystal Palace beyond this summer.
Clearly not in Sam Allardyce’s plans, who prefers both Wayne Hennessey and Julian Speroni ahead of the France international, the 31-year-old looks likely to leave London in the upcoming transfer window.
A return to Marseille appears to be the more logical choice, although that is by no means a certainty.
Furthermore, if Mandanda was lacking motivation to get first-team football (which we doubt is the case), Didier Deschamps’ decision to omit him once again from his France squads for the upcoming internationals should do the trick.
The former Marseille star has barely featured for his country since his move to Crystal Palace, with Alphonse Aréola and Benoit Costil replacing him in the pecking order.
However, L’Equipe explain on Friday that were Mandanda to start playing regularly again, there is no doubt he would slot straight back into Deschamps’ plans who has repeatedly explained ‘lack of football’ as the reason behind his omission.
At this stage, we doubt Crystal Palace would miss Mandanda, who, unfortunately, only made nine league appearances for the Eagles before a knee injury caused his season come to an unexpected premature end.
