Jean-Philippe Mateta: Crystal Palace striker ‘not in the right place’ to play against Nottingham Forest

Mateta, 28, is Palace’s top scorer this season with eight goals in the Premier League, but informed the club of his desire to leave earlier in January.

“Again, there’s a lot of hype, a lot of speculation, a lot of things happening,” Glassner added.

“We need every player at their best and JP [Mateta] He’s not at his best right now with all the noise going on.

“It might be the hype of football, but if someone has special issues where they can’t concentrate on football, it doesn’t make sense to play.

“He cannot help the team and perform at the highest level. We decided it was better not to play him.”

Palace is 15th in the Premier League and has already sold captain Mark Guehi to Manchester City over the winter.

They are yet to find a replacement for the England international, but Glasner, who said earlier this month that he would leave at the end of the season, is confident the club is working to strengthen the squad ahead of Monday’s deadline.

“The club is open almost 24 hours a day right now,” Glassner said.

“Mark [Guehi] He left two weeks ago and no one has joined. You can imagine that it is not that easy – every team wants to play a successful season, so it is not easy to be able to get players at the end of January.

“I see the club working hard to bring in players to replace Mark, and of course we have to be prepared if something happens with GB.” [Mateta]”.

Glasner said the club is preparing for different scenarios and that Wolves striker Jurgen Strand-Larsen remains a target.

“To be clear, it is possible that Mateta, who is a player, will remain at Crystal Palace on February 2, and it is possible that Mateta may have left the club and a new striker may have come in,” Glasner said.

“These are the two situations we are talking about and discussing now.”

Palace were prepared to offer £50m for Norwegian striker Strand Larsen, but that deal is now hanging in the balance after the Eagles announced their intention to leave.

Wolves coach Rob Edwards confirmed on Friday that 25-year-old Larsen is fit to play against Bournemouth on Saturday.