Crystal Palace have missed a trick by not signing Ciaran Clark

According to a report from The Sun, Crystal Palace were interested in signing Newcastle United defender Ciaran Clark. However, they later dropped their interest in the Newcastle United man and signed Gary Cahill on a free transfer instead.

During the early part of Ciaran Clark’s career at Newcastle, he enjoyed great success and played an important role in them earning promotion from the Championship. However, he has lost his place in the team in the last couple of seasons, with injuries playing a big part.

While new manager Steve Bruce kept hold of the Republic of Ireland international, the matter of fact is that the 29-year-old continues to be behind the likes of Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles and Paul Dummett in the pecking order.

As far as Crystal Palace are concerned, they have undoubtedly bagged a major coup in Gary Cahill. He has made almost 350 appearances in the Premier League, making him one of the most experienced English defenders at the moment.

Moreover, the 33-year-old is a real leader and a fantastic organiser of the backline, something which Crystal Palace lacked previously in their defensive ranks.

Nevertheless, signing Cahill alone isn’t the solution to Palace’s problems at the back. At first instance, Roy Hodgson’s side are very well stocked at the heart of the defence, with the likes of Scott Dann, Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins and Martin Kelly in the ranks.

Add to that Joel Ward as well, who can also fill in as a makeshift centre-back, and it was really hard to see why the Eagles should have looked for more depth in that particular area.

But given the Eagles’ chronic problems at the back for the last few seasons now, Hodgson should have added another centre-back. With Sakho and Tomkins recovering from their injuries, Hodgson could have done well with the addition of Ciaran Clark.

Read more Crystal Palace news, click here – Crystal Palace latest news

Clark, 29, has enormous experience in the Premier League, racking up 165 top-flight appearances, and he is in the prime of his career. After struggling to break into Newcastle’s starting XI, a move to Palace would have helped him reignite his career. Furthermore, the Irishman’s versatility of playing at left-back would have come in handy for the South Londoners.

Verdict

As things stand, Hodgson and co. have made a big mistake by not signing Clark from Newcastle. He could have provided Palace’s squad with defensive depth, which would have been a major boost.