Jason Puncheon is off on his travels again, the player who has spent more time away from St Mary's than at it during his sting with the club is joining Crystal Palace.

In many respects its no surprise that Jason Puncheon has once again joined another club on loan, after all its something he has done with regularity since he joined Saints in February 2010, even then he was in the strange position of being signed from MK Dons a club that he was actually only on loan at himself, his parent club being Plymouth Argyle at the time, even there he only stayed at Home Park a little over two months before joining MK on loan in October 2008, a status that would be extended several times meaning he spent something like 15 months there on loan in total.

He was barely at Saints for six months, most of them being the summer of 2010 before his first loan spell away, joining Millwall in the November of that year for a two month spell followed by another loan move to Blackpool in January 2011, For 2011/12 he joined QPR on loan till the January, and with Saints heading for the Premier decided to stay put and fight for his place with the Premier within Saints sights.

All in all in 3 1/2 seasons at the club around 35 months in total playing time, he has probably actually spent around 18 -20 of them available for selection by Saints and assuming he sees out his loan at Selhurst Park will mean that by the end he will have been away from St Mary's for nearing 3/4 of the time he should have been here.

The strange thing though is why the Club offered Puncheon a new contract back in March, even back then he was struggling to get in Mauriccio Pochettino's side and it was clear the manager didn't really fancy him using him mainly off the bench for 10 minutes or so, even when he started he barely lasted after half time under the new manager.

The writing was clearly on the wall for Jason back then, so why did we offer him a new deal that will surely have cost us more money, perhaps we see profit in him in just loaning him out, I really don't know.

But to be honest what has really changed for Jason from last season, the new arrivals have not been in his position so he shouldn't really be down in the pecking order, however he couldn't even make the 18 man squad for Saturday's game at West Brom and in true Jason Puncheon style, when the going gets tough, Jason gets going out somewhere on loan.

Of course some would say its harsh that he has gone, and I do agree to some point, Puncheon made a decent contribution last year, mainly under Nigel Adkins, but the change in manager seemed to signal a change in fortune for Jason at St Mary's again, it seems that it has been made quite clear to him he doesn't have a future here, that being the case again all the stranger that he was signed up to that new deal, surely back then we were aware that we would be chasing bigger fish that Jason in the summer transfer window, so why not just let his contract run out.

Undoubtably this will have cost Saints a few bob in signing on fees and increased wages so just what was the point.

Good luck to Jason he is clearly a troubled soul and very much an individual rather than a team player, there are many who think that last season Jason was a very valuable player, however the stats show a different story, indeed his six goals were a good total and several of them were vital ie the goals at Chelsea and Sunderland, but apart from that his stats weren't that impressive, only 44 shots = 1.37 a game, although in fairness as pointed out many of his later appearances were cameo's, in terms of crosses he was a little better delivering 88, but again that's less than 3 a game and that's a poor total, but perhaps most telling is his number of assists, only a solitary 1 and that is just not good enough, to put it in perspective even Guly had one assist to his name as did the also much maligned Danny Fox, which goes to show that sometimes players can be deceiving as to how much they actually deliver.

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 17:46 - Aug 21 Puncheon I liked but not surprised at this. I am surprised that more fringe players havent left yet though - a good deal of them. Guly, Steven Davis, Sharp, Forte, Hoovield, Mayuka all will have next to none playing time this year.
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stmichael added 18:44 - Aug 21 I disagree with alot of this most of which is very disrespectful to the player. I believe that Punch Gaston JRod and Lala are basically playing for 2 positions and the arrival of Osvaldo could mean 2 from 5. He has not asked to go or caused any agro so this is clearly a decision by the club. A cheap shot Nick at one of your least favourite players.
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davepid added 20:19 - Aug 21 I think Nick is spot on and the stats support him - remmber too in the champoionship run in Puncheon was sidelined becsue of his attitude only to come back for a bizaree 10 mins in the promotion game against Coventry. He was a good palyer for us but in patches. He can play at Premiership level , though probably for one of the fighting to saty up clubs ,such as Palace. Holloway sees potential and perhaps they can hit it off again. But ,as Nick says hes got to change his attitude ,become a team player and believe in himself more when things go wrong.

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chalks82 added 21:03 - Aug 21 I agree with Nick, Jason Puncheon was an average Premiership winger who could have occasional moments of class but more than often took too long on the ball and being dispossessed. If we are indeed looking to be serious contenders for the top 6 then we need better players than average. On the preseason tour he looked to be a great character to have in the squad, always messing around and having a laugh, but I don't know if that would have changed if he wasn't playing. Good Luck Punch and thanks for some great memories. I hope that another quality wide player is being lined up, Sinclair?

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A1079 added 23:30 - Aug 21 For some of the reasons explained I will not pretend that Puncheon is up there amongst my favourite player to don a Saints shirt, but equally, by a long way he is not the worst and I do think the coverage is a bit harsh. I have no idea what issues the player has had personally and whether or not he is full of self interest or someone who struggles to put down roots but I did feel that last season, on the whole, he provided a positive impact. Ok, I admit, one swallow does not make a summer, but I do think he has ability and brought something to the team when he did play. If I had a concern about anyone it is Ramirez - a player who cost so much and has delivered so little and really has not lived up to his price tag or reputation (ok, he does not set the price tag) but unless he fundamentally starts to make an impact or start delivering then he is one player I would be happy to see go.

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BoondockSaint added 02:56 - Aug 22 Only passed the ball to throat her team. Bet that assist was when the ball bounced off him!
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BoondockSaint added 03:00 - Aug 22 That was supposed to be "Only passed the ball TO THE OTHER TEAM"- Damn iPad!
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Whatsforpud added 09:30 - Aug 22 The wider question here is why is it possible to loan players out to teams in the same division.. I know there is a rule that a player cant play against his own club, but it is ridiculous that he should be helping out a competitor. There was a time when you could only loan to divisions below, which was sensible, if you believe in the loan system at all.
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felly1 added 10:55 - Aug 22 Puncheon cost £400,000 ,Ramirez cost £12,000,000. Who looked the better player last season??
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 13:49 - Aug 22 Schatfield - What are you talking about? Steven Davis is a great player to have in the squad and Hooiveld can do a job against a big centre forward like Andy Carroll which our other defenders might struggle with. Whatsforpud - Crystal Palace a competitor? Are you joking? They are relegation fodder. The club offered Puncheon a new deal so he didn't leave on a free. Palace will be paying his wages now and we might get a million or two for him next summer depending on how well he does. Last season Puncheon scored some vital goals and that shouldn't be forgotten but he won't get a game now so it makes sense letting him go. Especially as our number 11 shirt has been left free, which points to another possible new signing. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it'll be Scott Sinclair, he's having a medical at WBA. But maybe Saints have got someone lined up that the media hasn't previously linked us with. Someone like Viktor Fischer hopefully. But it might still be Benega who looks pure class.

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Waylander added 20:14 - Aug 22 BBC Sport are reporting that Sinclair has signed for WBA so it won't be him taking the #11 shirt.
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tiptop added 21:42 - Aug 22 Goodluck to Punch. He improved a lot when he knuckled down and won his contract. SoThatsme would say it is because of contract his from wavered. But i think it is more to do with knowing he wasn't going to be included in MoPos saints plan. A plan he felt part of.. Hollaway will put his arm around him and we'll see how he goes. Well with any luck and we can sell him and get some return which must have been the plan. Unlike with De Ridder. I do tink though that Ramirez is being cut a lot of slack due to potential. If Gaston had scored that goal against Chelsea we'd still be reminded of it.

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ExiledSupporter added 11:33 - Aug 23 I would have liked to think that this means Billy Sharpe would be on the bench more frequently, but I suspect that it means Mayuka will be selected for this role before him, which is not justified by past performance. But then why we have Mayuka at all is difficult to understand. I'm sure lending him to someone in the Championship would be beneficial both to player and the club in the medium term.

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