
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has revealed that sporting director Dougie Freedman spent extensive time in Brazil scouting Matheus Franca, before the club bought him from Flamengo for £26million.
Speaking on Friday, Hodgson also appeared to criticise some sections of the Palace support and the media in hyping up Franca’s positional versatility more than he feels is necessary, given that the attacker is still only 19.