Crystal Palace made several strange calls during the summer transfer window.
There was the bizarre decision to replace Michael Olise with three vastly different players in Eddie Nketiah, Ismaila Sarr and Daichi Kamada – who was an Oliver Glasner signing – with the trio failing to provide a single goal or assist in the Premier League so far this season.
Crystal Palace also opted to loan Jesurun Rak-Sakyi to Sheffield United, a talent who is our most similar forward to Olise in terms of his profile, cutting inside from the right flank onto his stronger left foot.
There were two other loan exits Steve Parish sanctioned when Odsonne Edouard moved to Leicester City and Naouirou Ahamada was sent to Rennes – with both presumably feeling very unhappy right now.
Naouirou Ahamada and Odsonne Edouard surely would have been better off at Crystal Palace
We cannot understand why the French duo were allowed to leave on loan as late as transfer deadline day considering how thin the squad is.
In Saturday’s 2-0 defeat against Fulham, Justin Devenny made his Premier League debut amid an injury crisis in midfield, alongside Marc Guehi, who is not a natural midfielder by any means.
Later in the game, we saw Jeffrey Schlupp come on to provide some form of attacking threat, which is akin to hoping a chocolate teapot won’t melt.
Amid this situation, we cannot help but feel Ahamada and Edouard would have had a role to play.
The latter boasts a respectable record of 21 goals in 103 appearances for Crystal Palace – roughly a strike every five games – and nobody can argue he is a worse footballer than Schlupp.
In regards to Ahamada, the 22-year-old has incredibly never been handed a Premier League start despite arriving back in January 2023, almost two years ago, but often looked positive in possession when introduced from the bench.
Again, whatever you think of the Frenchman, he too would represent a better option in midfield than Guehi or Devenny at this moment in time.
Leicester and Rennes moves are not working out
This situation wouldn’t be as frustrating if the pair were thriving away from Selhurst Park, but they are doing the exact opposite of that.
Edouard has played just 142 minutes of Premier League football under Steve Cooper at Leicester so far this season, while Ahamada has not even played a single minute in Ligue 1 at Rennes.
At this rate, it would not be a surprise to see both recalled in January.
Regardless of what happens, Ahamada and Edouard must feel truly unwanted after being sent away from Crystal Palace despite Glasner having a seriously thin squad, so permanent exits for the pair of them in 2025 cannot be ruled out.
