Crystal Palace boss Dougie Freedman is desperate to keep his young squad together.

Freedman, just 37 ­himself, is terrified the big clubs will pick off his young stars.

The Scot said: "When I came back here as Paul Hart's assistant we were in administration, we had no money and had to take Wilfried Zaha out of the youth team and put him in the side at 16.

"Now we have got a generation of kids ­coming through at youth level, a real crop.

"I don't like to mention their names in case I tip anybody off - but you can see them playing for England and Wales already.

"I don't want them to be picked up like Victor Moses, Ben Watson and Wayne Routledge were. I want to have them for a few years and see if we can all go somewhere.

"Over the last four or five years Palace have been big on youth recruitment - now it is up to us to work with them as much as we can. The best part of the job is seeing them develop."