October 16 2000

David Woozley

Bournemouth have until 12 tomorrow to agree a transfer fee with Crystal Palace for defender David Woozley. The 20-year-old defender is on loan at Bournemouth but is keen on signing a permanent deal.

Bournemouth boss Sean O'Driscoll was impressed by Woozley's performances since arriving at Dean Court four weeks ago, but the £50,000 transfer fee Palace are demanding remains a problem.

The Cherries boss has put some cash on the table for the Palace youngster, although he refused to reveal how much that was.

He said: "I can confirm we have made an offer to Crystal Palace for David and we are waiting for them to get back to us."

"Should they accept our offer it will be necessary for us to sit down with David and discuss personal terms. David has said he would like to sign for us and we would like to keep him."

"Palace put the ball in our court by asking us to make an offer and now we have done that. We have until 12pm on Tuesday to sort something out if we are going to have him for the Wigan game."

"With Eddie Howe unavailable for another couple of weeks we need plenty of cover at the back and David has shown that he's a quality player."

Meanwhile, Leon McKenzie admitted that he never wanted to leave the Palace after joining second division Peterborough United last week.

He said he only signed for Posh because he was not going to be offered a new contract at the end of the season. A £50,000 fee was agreed between the clubs.

"I can't believe that after six years at Palace it's ended like this with them offering me nothing. It's football and I have to move on, but I want the fans to know that I did not put in a transfer request," McKenzie explained."

"Nothing was offered to me, it would have been nice if I had been given the chance to stay and settle properly," McKenzie commented.