by Tom Hughes

I'll miss getting Moritz out for the lads.

But to be frank, it says an awful lot that our inspired chant for the Brazilian is usually a reference to bringing him on from the bench. Neither Dougie Freedman nor Ian Holloway used him as a starter very often and his chances were limited.

We enjoyed seeing him introduced, his fleeting moments of brilliance, but must agree that he found prolonged first team opportunities in the Championship hard to come by for good reasons.

And if he struggled to get 90 minutes in the second tier, only a convenient spread of injuries or an intense and possibly suspicious bout of food poisoning would allow Moritz the amount of playing time he wants in the Premier League.

Any time I see a Twitter discussion about our squad it's evident most people believe that Palace need to strengthen all over – more wingers, a strong centre back, right back cover, a new left back, another striker etc etc.

However, with Johnny Williams, Owen Garvan and Stephen Dobbie all able to fill Moritz’s position it is an area of the pitch that probably requires the least attention.

Having said that, if we don’t add to our supply of wide men beyond Yannick Bolasie and Jerome Thomas (still not sure if this is confirmed) then Williams could find himself deployed out wide more often which may eventually lead to a drought of attacking midfield talent.

Yet I’d imagine this hypothetical problem is pretty far down the management’s considerable list of summer concerns.

Moritz had class and ability - I'll never forget his two free kicks in one game against Wolves, the second psychologically beating the goalkeeper by wrong-footing him as if it was a second penalty kick - and neither will I ever forget his unbelievably pinpoint, perfectly balanced, defence-shredding pass for Zaha against Burnley.

As much as I’d love him to stick around, suck it up and be a valuable squad player this year, he’s evidently certain in his mind he can find better opportunity elsewhere.

Good luck to you Andre, but I can’t help feeling maybe this was a missed opportunity, a chance to contradict your reputation as a journeyman by fighting for a place in the team, not expecting it.