Why Crystal Palace should go all out for Timothy Castagne in January
Back in June, the Evening Standard had claimed that Crystal Palace were interested in signing Atalanta full-back Timothy Castagne. However, a deal didn’t go through in the summer.
Timothy Castagne, 23, enjoyed a solid last season with Atalanta in the Serie A, helping the club achieve Champions League qualification. With the Belgian international having entered the final year of his contract with Atalanta, he could be potentially available for a bargain deal in January.
With that in mind, Crystal Palace must rekindle their interest in Timothy Castagne in the January transfer window as they failed to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka over the summer.
Crystal Palace are in desperate need of a new right-back at the moment, with Wan-Bissaka no longer in the mix. Wan-Bissaka joined Manchester United in a big-money move, leaving Roy Hodgson with Joel Ward and Martin Kelly as options at right-back.
Ward and Kelly are decent players but they don’t possess the quality to start games week in and week out for the Eagles. In short, they are best as back-up options.
Hodgson’s side have shown defensive vulnerabilities since the start of the new Premier League campaign.
They were swept apart by Tottenham at the weekend despite Mauricio Pochettino’s side not hitting the top gear. That should worry Hodgson a lot and he must look to bring in a new central defender and a right-back to shore up his backline.
As far as the right-back position is concerned, Timothy Castagne would be a fantastic fit at Selhurst Park.
Essentially a right-back by trade, Castagne is equally adept at playing on the opposite side and as a wing-back for his team. As a matter of fact, the Belgian’s presence in the ranks could hand a significant boost to the Palace squad’s quality as well as depth.
A modern-day full-back, the 23-year-old is renowned for his pace, energy, tackling, dribbling and crossing ability. His stamina and work rate are his assets as he is willing to run up and down the right side of the pitch. He has those attacking instincts to really affect the game while going forward.
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Castagne’s defensive qualities allow him to track back and make recovery runs to cut out the attacks, while his ability to time his tackles to perfection makes him a valuable player to the backline.
Verdict
All in all, there’s no doubt in saying that Castagne has the required attributes to thrive in the fast-paced nature of the Premier League. Thus, Palace could get a long-term solution for their right-back problems if they go for the Belgian international.