Silly season is in full flow when it comes to speculated transfer targets for all clubs and Crystal Palace certainly have their own busy corner in the papers and online.
With doubt surrounding the future of Christian Benteke given how he failed to fire last term and the confidence problems he clearly suffered, strikers, are an easy go to in order to fill column inches but it’s far from the only position on the pitch we are reportedly looking to fill.
So, as a round-up of the more common rumours on the mill at this moment in time, with the Russian World Cup on the verge of beginning, we obviously have a fair few speculated targets at that competition and fans can judge for themselves whether or not they’d make worthy additions.
Football.London cover a number of players.
33-year-old Polish stopper Lukasz Fabianski has been linked, but it seems everyone and their dog is being linked with him following Swansea City’s relegation to the Championship. West Ham are also linked but I can’t see this one happening unless we can source a guaranteed buyer of Wayne Hennessey. If Julian Speroni signs his new deal it’s even less likely to happen following the arrival of Vicente Guaita.
28-year-old right back Hiroki Sakai has also been linked with us. The Japanese international plays for Marseille and Leicester City and Brighton have been linked with him. This one seems dependent on Joel Ward not agreeing new terms.
Belgium and Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendocker is said to be linked with us, West Ham and Valencia. The 23-year-old apparently had interest from the Premier League back in January but it’s certainly a new name to me.
Chelsea midfielder and former loanee Ruben Loftus-Cheek is an easy go-to given his performances last season and his own words about his time at the club. Roy Hodgson has previously said if a deal could be done he’d be interested.
Stoke and Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri has been mainly linked with a move to Southampton, but Palace feature in the ‘other clubs’ namechecked in reports on him. I can actually sort of see this one happening if he doesn’t want to reunite with Mark Hughes and he would be a good alternative option for us. His release fee is said to be £12million following Stoke’s relegation.
Whilst he didn’t really impress at Newcastle United, Aleksandar Mitrovic certainly garnered the headlines during a loan spell last season with Fulham where he helped them to promotion and being in the Serbian squad alongside Luka Milivojevic, the speculation makes sense from a ‘word in the ear’ perspective. Given his build and goalscoring threat he’s certainly an alternative option to Benteke if we move him on.
In none World Cup speculation, the Daily Record have us circling Celtic midfielder and Scottish international Stuart Armstrong. With Southampton and relegated West Brom linked with him, the suggestion is Celtic will look for a bidding war but will let him go this summer after a standoff last year which eventually saw him sign a 12-month deal.
Whether or not we have any real interest in those listed remains to be seen. A few feel pie in the sky but with Hodgson’s career a complete left field signing isn’t out of the question given his ties abroad. As ever though, a lot of the names don’t really spark much excitement so we’ll have to see what our former England man has in store for next season.
Mitrovic and Wilfried Zaha could be a hell of a partnership though!