Despite their position in the lower reaches of the Premier League table, Crystal Palace have some of the best young English talent in their ranks.
Oliver Glaser’s time as manager of the club has been understated to say the least, and the summer will provide a period of reflection for all, given the Eagles fortunes over the past couple of seasons.
Aside from Roy Hodgson’s new manager bounce when taking over from Patrick Vieira, results have been largely disappointing.
Palace to play hard ball in player negotiations
The Frenchman was sacked and so, eventually, was Hodgson, and with Glasner not really doing too much to trouble the teams around Palace, it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be around for long either.
Indeed, only wins over Burnley and Bodo/Glimt are what the new manager has to show on his CV. Other results have been losses or three 1-1 draws against teams – Everton, Nottingham Forest and Luton Town – fighting relegation.
With all of that in mind, players such as Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Guehi, all of whom are coveted by bigger clubs, might well decide that the time is now right to move on.
Their international aspirations might suffer as well if they weren’t to leave Selhurst Park, and that may be the kicker that each player needs to instruct their representatives to try and get them a move elsewhere.
It’s certainly not going to be easy, however, with owner Steve Parish known to strike a notoriously hard bargain.
“Palace will consider only important proposals, not normal ones, for Marc Guehi and any other star players. It certainly won’t be easy to sign players from them,” Fabrizio Romano said to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing.
“At this stage I’m not aware of negotiations for Guehi so far with any club, but his name has been on the lists of multiple clubs for a long time so could be one to watch in the summer surely.”
In the past, it’s believed that Chelsea have been interested in acquiring Guehi, and the Blues were also close to signing team-mate, Olise, having met his release clause per Sky Sports, before Palace managed to tie him down to another deal.