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Crystal Palace Fan View: January business assessed
A reasonable target for Crystal Palace going into January would have been to strengthen in each position. We did that in attack – Sorloth came in on deadline day, we did that in defence – Jach was signed in the last couple of weeks and we brought in cover in midfield in the form of Rakip.
Good business then? Not necessarily.
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With Bakary Sako’s injury in the draw against West Ham on Tuesday night, which sounds as if it could be months not weeks, our deadline day arrival means all we have succeeded in doing is replacing a now-injured player.
Hodgson spoke candidly about adding three or four to the squad before the spate of injuries through December saw us lose Dann, Puncheon, Sakho and others. To have signed just three players when you factor in the fact that two players will now miss the remainder of the season will rankle with Hodgson, whatever he may say publicly.
We also missed out on a goalkeeper. Again.
If nothing else we should have replaced Mandanda in the summer window, but we missed out on targets then, and it’s happened again now. The fact we missed out on a last-gasp deal for Fredrick Ronnow will I’m sure sound like deja vu – I remember hearing a very similar story back in August concerning exactly the same goalkeeper.
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He was actually only second choice this time round, it was Vicente Guaita that was the main target in January but the fact he had just 6 months left to run on his contract meant there was a fair bit of distance between Crystal Palace’s valuation and Getafe’s. There is talk that we’ve agreed a deal to sign him on a free transfer at the end of the season, but to go two successive windows without doing a deal is certainly surprising given neither Speroni nor Hennessey has covered themselves in glory when they have featured.
Perhaps the thinking is that between them they can manage for the 13 games left of the season, given we’ve managed for this long.
Doing business in January is difficult. The deal for Amadou demonstrates exactly why – loan deals often can’t be changed and onward chains are created which means if one deal doesn’t go through then none can. Of course it’s also about the money.
Compared to this time last year our expenditure was reasonably modest, less than £10 million for our permanent additions, but we cannot go out and spend 20 or £30 million on a striker again and expect to bring in players elsewhere.
If we had brought in a goalkeeper I would have said that this window had been a resounding success for Crystal Palace. We haven’t spent an awful lot of money, surely meaning there may be a reasonable amount available in the summer when most of the movement takes place, and we’d have strengthened the squad.
Not signing a goalkeeper doesn’t detract completely from the work that’s gone on elsewhere, but it does provide ammunition for those looking to fire at the board after the hash that was made in pre-season which is a shame, because on the whole I don’t think we’ve done a bad job.
