Crystal Palace Transfer Mistakes: Selling These Two Players Was A Blunder In Recent Times

Crystal Palace Should Not Have Sold These Players

Crystal Palace have established themselves as a solid Premier League outfit in recent years having earned promotion back in 2013. Despite a horde of changes in managerial positions with Ian Holloway, Tony Pulis, Neil Warnock, Alan Pardew and now Sam Allardyce having held the position in the last four years, Palace have become a stable club competing for a mid-table finish in the English top-tier.

However, there is a threat of them getting relegated this season as they find themselves in a precarious position in the league table, but a recent run of results under Allardyce have sparked a turnaround and may well lead them to safety come the end of the season.

The success and failure of a club are largely influenced by their business in the transfer market and Crystal Palace have managed to be largely prudent in their transfer dealings over the years. However, there have been some mistakes made, some wrong players signed and some players who should have been with the club having been sold. Here we bring you two such mistakes the Eagles have made in recent years.

Selling Jose Fonte

Over the past few seasons, Jose Fonte has gone onto establish himself as one of the finest centre-halves in the Premier League. Considering his abilities and his qualities it is remarkable that Palace let him join Southampton back in January 2010.

The Portuguese international joined the Eagles back in 2007 on loan from Benfica, before making the move a permanent one at the end of the season for free. Fonte was a key member of the Palace backline in his two and a half years at the Selhurst Park in the Championship, making a total of 92 appearances across all competitions, in which he scored 6 goals as well.

But the Eagles opted to sell him to the Saints, who were in the League One back then. There, he went on to become a leader of the team and led them to promotion to the Championship and then the Premier League. Surely, a blunder on the side of Palace, losing a defender who was young and showed great potential.

Selling Mile Jedinak

It was a bitter pill to swallow for some sections of the Palace supporters when it was announced in the summer of 2016 that midfielder and captain Mile Jedinak would be leaving the club to join Aston Villa.

In his five years at the club, the Australian international endeared himself to the Palace faithful due to his tenacious style of play and became an icon at Selhurst Park. Having come in as an unknown quantity, Jedinak grew better and better with the Eagles and the team grew along with him. A true leader; he was respected heavily by his peers and had a huge say in Palace establishing themselves as a top-flight team.

Jedinak went onto make 178 appearances for the Eagles over five years, in which he scored 10 goals as well. He led them twice at Wembley for a cup final and was named Crystal Palace’s player of the year in 2012-2013.

Whether it was Tony Pulis or Neil Warnock or Alan Pardew at the helm, Jedinak was the undisputed captain of the team, until Pardew decided to change that at the start of this season. This may have played a hand in the big man’s exit. Someone with such leadership qualities, with that amount of love and passion for the club, it was a mistake by Palace to sell him.