August 31 2011

Alassane N'Diaye

Crystal Palace utility player Alassane N'Diaye has left the club.

The Frenchman, 21, was sent on loan to Southend for the season after falling out of favour at Palace but has since returned and had his contract torn up.

A statement on the official Palace website read: "Alassane N'Diaye has today had his contract with the club cancelled by mutual consent."

There were reports of a training ground bust-up with a team-mate at Southend, while manager Paul Sturrock was believed to be unhappy with his performances.

Southend vice-captain Neil Harris said: "There have been a few other issues and it does seem like Alassane N’Diaye, or big Dave as we call him, will be heading back to Crystal Palace which is a shame because his loan spell here hasn't really worked out the way everyone hoped it would.

"I'm not too sure what’s happening with his future at the moment, but he’s a really nice guy and I hope he manages to go somewhere else and get games because it’s what he needs most."

Eagles boss Dougie Freedman told the SLP: "Alassane’s had a couple of troubled years at the club and never really settled - he was always thinking the grass was greener on the other side so I decided the best thing was to have a clean sweep and let him do what he thinks he is capable of doing.

"Sometimes you’ve got to go down before you can come back up and hopefully this decision will help Alassane."

N'Diaye joined Palace as a free agent in 2009 and played 42 times, scoring three goals.