Matheus Franca was involved as Pierre Sage held his first training session in charge of Crystal Palace on Monday.
The Brazilian should be eager to impress the Frenchman and his coaching staff after a disappointing loan spell at Vasco da Gama last season, with many fans losing faith in the South American’s ability to repay his £26m fee.
However, Franca may have to try and impress Sage from a distance while on another loan next season, as Crystal Palace have not given the 22-year-old a new shirt number.
Initial thoughts on Pierre Sage? 🤔
He can boast a 67.5% win ratio from 40 games at RC Lens 😍
Interesting development occurs involving Matheus Franca
Crystal Palace announced on Monday that Jaydee Canvot will be switching to the No.6 shirt vacated by Marc Guehi, while Oscar Mingueza will take the No.30 after arriving on a free transfer.
However, there was no news on what number Franca will have after Brennan Johnson took his No.11 shirt in January.
During the footage of Sage’s first training session, the Brazil U20 international was the only player without a shirt number on the front of his kit.
Some had their number partly hidden by a training bib, but the clearest sight of Franca – at 6:30 in the video below – visibly shows his top to not have a number.
In our view, the fact Crystal Palace did not arrange a new number for Franca when sorting out kits for Canvot and Mingueza suggests the Eagles expect the Brazilian to leave in the coming weeks, whether that be on another loan move or a permanent exit.
Reports from South America have already claimed that the Flamengo academy graduate is likely to seal another loan move to Brazil this summer.
Some may argue that Franca is just waiting in hope for a better number to pop up, but considering the No.42 shirt which he wore at Flamengo is available after the departure of Kaden Rodney, the fact he still has no number is telling.
Does Matheus Franca have a future at Crystal Palace? 🇧🇷
Hopefully, if the man from Rio de Janeiro is to depart SE25 again this summer, it will only be a loan deal – he is quite clearly a talented player, who just needs to strengthen his body enough to handle English football.
