Crystal Palace have ‘no regrets’ about not signing £15m star at Selhurst ParK
Crystal Palace missed out on signing a striker in the summer transfer window, and journalist Dean Jones has shared the internal feeling at Selhurst Park with GIVEMESPORT about one player.
Palace lost their talisman, Wilfried Zaha, in the summer, after he left the club following the expiration of his contract, joining Turkish side Galatasaray. Matheus Franca, Dean Henderson, Rob Holding, and Jefferson Lerma were brought to the club, but Roy Hodgson and his recruitment team failed to sign a striker. Jean-Philippe Mateta and Odsonne Edouard have enjoyed mixed success in a Palace shirt since joining the club, and there’s no doubt a top centre-forward would take them to the next level, especially with the creativity of Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise.
Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge told GIVEMESPORT late in the transfer window that Hodgson was looking to bring in another goalscorer, but a deal failed to materialise. Luckily for the Palace boss, Edouard and Mateta have started reasonably well this season, providing seven goal contributions between them. Although failing to bring in another forward hasn’t come back to bite them just yet, it will be interesting to see whether Mateta and Edouard can continue their form throughout the whole season.
However, Hodgson may feel that Edouard in particular has turned a corner, after admitting he spoke to Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers about him..
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Odsonne Edouard thought he had secured a surprise victory for the visitors when he netted just after the halfway stage.
But goals from Jhon Duran, Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey in the dying minutes at Villa Park clinched an important win for the hosts.
While Villa manager Unai Emery will have been delighted that his men found the back of the net three times, the man in the dugout will have been disappointed to concede to the Eagles, particularly just two minutes after the break.
He will no doubt have had a strong word or two for his defenders after the game, but at the same time the Spaniard will be thrilled with one record-breaking statistic from his compatriot Pau Torres.
As per WhoScored (18 September, Torres’ 117 accurate passes against Crystal Palace is the “most recorded by an Aston Villa player in a league match since we started collecting Opta data in 2009/10. Pulling the strings for Unai Emery’s side.”
It often takes players quite some time to not only settle into a new club, but into a new country, but it seems that Torres has adapted to life at Vill Park very quickly.
In a superb all-round performance, the centre-back registered three tackles, one interception and one clearance, and won three of his four duels throughout the 90 minutes (SofaScore).
And in terms of his passing masterclass, the defender finished the match with a 94% passing accuracy, which included nine out of 11 accurate long balls.
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