Hodgson says 'disenchanted' Palace player wants to leave and is refusing to play

It is a huge hit to Crystal Palace with the new Premier League season just days away.

The Spaniard has been first-choice at Selhurst Park largely throughout his entire five-year span at the club.

But with one year left on his contract, he has told Hodgson that he wants out amid interest from his former club Getafe.

Sam Johnstone took his spot between the sticks toward the end of last season.

And when asked if the ex-West Brom star would resume those duties, Hodgson opened up over his wantaway goalkeeper.

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"He's the only one at the moment," the Palace boss said. "Guaita is disenchanted with the club.

"He's made it clear that he would like to move on and he's refusing to play.

"It's up to the club to decide, not him, but the current situation is that he's made it clear to everybody that he doesn't want to be here and compete with Sam Johnstone.

"There are probably many clubs around the world with lots of players who would rather leave than stay but the fact is that when you sign a contract with a club, you basically commit yourself to what's needed at that club.

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"When you no longer want to play football for that club, it does cause an enormous amount of friction.

"It will be interesting to see how the situation resolves itself.

"It's not certain whether the club will accept that his refusal to play means that they have to let him go."

Guaita joined Palace on a free transfer in 2019 and signed a contract extension in January.

But the 36-year-old was not present for Palace's 2-0 friendly win over Lyon and is now at risk of poisoning his legacy.

His departure would be a huge blow to Palace, who have already lost Wilfried Zaha this year on a free transfer to Galatasaray.