Thursday, August 25, 2005

Morrison completes retutrn to Eagles

Crystal Palace have won the race for Birmingham striker Clinton Morrison who returns to Selhurst Park on a three-year deal. Palace saw off competition from several different Championship side's including Norwich, Southampton and Sheffield United to sign the Republic Of Ireland striker for a fee of £2million. Morrison left Palace to join Birmingham three years ago in a £4.25 million deal that saw Andy Johnson move in the opposite direction. Johnson has gone on to become one of the best strikers in the country while Morrison never really established himself at Birmingham only scoring 16 goals in 97 appearances.


Morrison in his old Palace days

Morrison managed 72 goals in 180 games in his first spell at Palace and Dowie will be hoping he can reproduce that kind of form and strike up a productive partnership with Johnson. It means Palace now have a wealth of attacking options with Johnson, Jonathan Macken, Dougie Freedman and Wayne Andrews already on the books at Selhurst Park.

Morrison has really played well at International level for Ireland but has never really got a chance at Birmingham with the likes of Pandiani, Forssell and Heskey all higher up in Steve Bruce's plans. I believe that this is a good deal for Palace because it was only £2million and he could really be a good player at Championship level. Morrison is only 26 and he is still a quality player and will do well for Palace.