Why Crystal Palace’s Deadline Day Moves Were A Disaster
Having started the season horrifically in terms of results and goals conceded, Crystal Palace looked doomed very early on before they made the move to replace Frank de Boer with former England manager Roy Hodgson and results picked up almost immediately.
With the likes of Yohan Cabaye and Wilfried Zaha at their disposal, Palace have gained positive results against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City and looked well on their way to safety. Nothing can be taken for granted though and Hodgson knew he needed a number of new players before the deadline.
The Eagles missed out on several targets on a tumultuous day for the club that saw them fail to sign the goalkeeper and midfielder than Hodgson had publicly said he needed.
Palace brought in Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth but they could not agree a deal with Lille for Ibrahim Amadou, someone who had also been targeted by rivals West Ham.
Attempts were made to sign Taras Stepanenko from Shakhtar Donetsk, however, they failed to reach an agreement with the club and another deal was dead.
In the goalkeeping efforts, Palace failed in moves for Frederik Ronnow of Brondby and Vicente Guaita of Getafe with both deals going down the tubes on the last day. However, the club did finalise a deal for Guaita with the player coming in the summer window.
In the case of Amadou, Palace had particular frustration after the midfielder had travelled from France to London, passed a medical and agreed personal terms with the Eagles only for Lille to refuse to sell the 24-year-old at the last minute. The stated reason is that they could not recall Xeka from a loan deal at Dijon in order to allow Amadou to leave.
With all these deals failing, that would be frustrating no matter what sort of situation you are in but considering Palace’s injury situation at the moment one could argue their position may be dire.
Having improved no end on the field, they have found themselves recently without the services of Bakary Sako, Andros Townsend, Jeffrey Schlupp, Scott Dann, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jason Puncheon and Conor Wickham, and that is a lot of talent to be without.
The way they surrendered recently at Arsenal was a dangerous sign and should they lose at home to Newcastle on Sunday, the fans will be fearing the worst once again.
Palace can be exciting going forward, however, no matter your attacking intentions you need the right players to be able to do it and with no Loftus-Cheek, Townsend or Puncheon in the line-up they will struggle somewhat from here on in, and deadline day did nothing to help them.