Pre-Transfer Window Negotiations w/ Lucien LeClair
While some matches are being played throughout the hectic month of December, and those are obviously the main focus of Lucien LeClair, that doesn't mean the transfer window can be put off until January. One of the best and most effective ways to improve your squad is establishing what's already known, and then being able to make those improvements swiftly by already knowing some of the talent that's out on the open market. In this case for Crystal Palace, it's even more vital to do that due to the limited funds available. While LeClair did accomplish a fair amount of selling offer in the Summer, there are still more changes to be made and while he understands this process is going to take time, Crystal Palace are playing at a level that they can contend for playing time at a European level. That's no joke when you're a relatively smaller club than the likes of Spurs, Arsenal, and Liverpool. So, let's take a deep dive at each part of Swansea City's lineup.
Up front, you have your two unquestioned starters in Alexander Sørloth and Christian Benteke. Both have been playing well this season, and the Norwegian in particular has seen plenty of growth which is fantastic to see from the 22-year old. Still, one could argue that their skills are especially redundant. Both are huge in size yet lack top-end pace. In an attempt to fix that, LeClair did purchase Ben Brereton from Nottingham Forest but he's only 18 and is likely to be a player who plays in just smaller cup matches for awhile. Crystal Palace could certainly use an upgrade here, and hell considering the fact Benteke is 27, he may want to make a move back up to a big club if the offer comes calling. We'll have to wait and see on that. In terms of the wings, right now we have Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend as our main guys. Both have been sensational this season, and they're both entering their prime as they are 25 and 26 years old respectively. In terms of depth, we have 21-year old Samuel Grandsir who we've purchased and he's made some decent contributions, as well as Bakary Sako and Sada Thioub. Sako is likely on his way out if possible, and Thioub mostly serves a substitue and rarely starts. So getting another starter here to have a 4-man rotation wouldn't be the worst idea, Crystal Palace have some options they like in
Rafik Zekhnini, Peter Etebo, and Isaac Success but all of them are out on loan at the moment.
The midfield for Crystal Palace will always be tricky because unless a formation change happens, there's only going to be 2 main spots at any one time. Amongst starting players, you have Yves Bissouma who easily is looking at becoming the heartbeat of this team moving forward. But then you also have Yohan Cabaye, a veteran and still one of our best player, Luka Milivojević who's a great defensive player and only 26, and then a variety of other players from Erdal Rakip to Lee Chung Yong to Jason Puncheon to Ruben Loftus-Cheek(though he is just on a loan deal) This position does make it easy to debate whether Crystal Palace should consider a more narrow formation, but it would make you sacrifice one of your strikers in order to accomplish that. But if Benteke gets moved, that could be an option. Regardless, no real need to get anybody as of right now and also it's not like LeClair is going to do any better than Bissouma, who has been as repeatedly stated our best player this season.
In defense, Crystal Palace have already made some moves.
Ryan Sessegnon has agreed to a 5-year contract with Crystal Palace after the sides negotiated with Fulham. They paid $2,400,000 for the 17-year old and he'll get paid 19k in wages along with a $240,000 signing bonus. It's a mammoth signing considering the potential Sessegnon has, but he's already made it plenty clear that he has his eyes on bigger clubs which is interesting to factor in... he views this place as a stepping stone, not a place to build like Bissouma, so that's something to keep in mind. Jeffrey Schlupp and Papa Souare man the left back slot, that's alright, Timothy Fosu-Mensah is the right back but his loan will expire at the end of the season, that's where Sessegnon slides in. At center back, we have Jaïro Riedewald as our future along with Mamadou Sakho, Tomkins, and Scott Dann. This could be a place to improve if we're feeling bougee but it's not a desperate need. In net, Axel Werner is pretty much uncontested, though it would be nice to groom a young keeper behind him to create some competition.
January will certainly be interesting, but before then, let's look at what happened in the December matchups!