da brdice： In the January transfer window, Crystal Palace made just two signings.
da bet7k： The south Londoners brought in Cenk Tosun on a loan deal from Everton, while also signing 18-year-old Scott Banks from Dundee United.
However, they almost had a third capture lined up.
Daniele Pradè – the Sporting Director of Serie A side Fiorentina – recently revealed that one of his January signings in Christian Kouame was effectively a Crystal Palace player before injury struck the striker down.
What did he say?
In regards to the negotiations which took the Ivorian to Fiorentina, Pradè said: “The conversation with Kouame comes from afar, he was at the Citadel, I was at Sampdoria. Against us, the first leg was devastating. Christian had already been sold to Crystal Palace, the injury stopped everything and we took the ball. A decision taken by mutual agreement with the president.”
One of many scuppered transfer moves for the Eagles
It goes without saying that Crystal Palace’s luck in the January transfer window was truly out.
In addition to Kouame’s serious knee injury wrecking his move to Selhurst Park, two more potential arrivals for Roy Hodgson’s side also saw injuries ruin their chances of joining the club.
Angers left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri was a player who Crystal Palace had ‘hoped to secure’ according to The Athletic, although he suffered a double-fracture of his jaw which is expected to keep him out for months and no such move materialised.
“Throw in, too, Rayan Ait-Nouri whose progress has long been tracked at Angers and whom Palace had hoped to secure, only for the teenage left-back to suffer a double fracture of his jaw in a Ligue 1 fixture against Nice in mid-January. That is expected to keep him out for months.”
Furthermore, West Brom full-back Nathan Ferguson even underwent a medical with the Eagles, only to see the examinations identify a knee issue which eventually meant the deal collapsed and he remained at the Hawthorns.
Securing Ait-Nouri, Ferguson and Kouame would’ve been an excellent month’s business for the Eagles, with each player being 18, 19 and 22 years of age respectively – in terms of lowering the average age of the squad, something which Dominic Fifield revealed on the HLTCO podcast that Crystal Palace are aware is in need of doing, it would’ve been an excellent start to capture the trio.
Calling Premier League experts ONLY: Which year were these top flight clubs formed?
Unfortunately, injuries scuppered any chance of them becoming Crystal Palace players – how’s your luck, hey?
In other news, flashbacks of Crystal Palace’s 2015/16 campaign prove Steve Parish hasn’t learned anything…