SAKA, ANTONY AND 10 PREMIER LEAGUE STARS HEADING TO THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP
To begin with, this isn’t an article designed to inflate Crystal Palace supremo Steve Parish’s ego.
There are plenty of sticks to bash the Eagles chairman with.
Specifically, one of those is the fact that he’s allowed the squad to become so old, that there are only four players under the age of 28 – excluding Michy Batshuayi, who’s on loan.
However, there are three reasons why Parish deserves credit.
Eberechi Eze, Nathan Ferguson and Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The trio – all of whom have been signed recently – are aged 22, 20 and 23.
It’s only a start to overhauling the squad with some youthful exuberance, although Parish deserves praise for realising the issue and beginning to address it.
It’s absolutely vital that the south Londoners continue to sign players who are, ideally, under the age of 25, as the average age of the squad needs to come down.
A 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United last season at Selhurst Park saw the Eagles name their oldest-ever starting XI in the Premier League with an average age of 30 years and 94 days, as the BBC revealed.
It’s good to have a bit of experience sprinkled across the squad, but Palace desperately need to fill Selhurst Park with up-and-coming players, rather than those nearing their expiry date.
Eze, Ferguson and Mateta are hopefully just the start of more incomings of similar ilk, and Parish deserves a pat on the back for getting them in.
