Crystal Palace have a number of excellent young talents within the club, and Roy Hodgson has been criticised for failing to support any potential breakthroughs into the first-team.
Hodgson is under massive pressure at Palace, and there are many reasons why fans are currently unhappy with him. Ignoring, and even criticising Palace’s promising youngsters is a significant one, and some have argued that his reign at the club could harm their future development.
The January transfer window saw Palace loan out some of their promising talent, and two players moved to Belgian club RWD Molenbeek, who are also part of John Textor’s network of clubs.
Winger Malcolm Ebiowei and defender Tayo Adaramola both made the move late in the window, and both have featured for the Belgian side, who are currently 14th out of 16 teams in the top-flight.
Crystal Palace loanees shine in Belgium
Saturday saw RWDM play against Standard Liege in an important game in the relegation battle, and they drew 2-2.
Adaramola started at left-back, and played the whole 90 minutes, whilst Ebiowei came on in the 67th minute, and assisted Ilay Camara’s late goal to put their side 2-1 up, before they were pegged back by the visitors.
The Palace pair were spotted celebrating the goal together, and this was posted on X with the caption “they got out just in time.”
Are Crystal Palace youngsters better off away from Selhurst Park?
Crystal Palace are suffering an injury crisis, and Ebiowei may have come in useful as an option on the wing given that Michael Olise is set to be absent with a long-term injury.
However, Palace are in a crisis right now, with results and performances on the pitch, coupled with anger off it, and Hodgson’s presence at the club, making it a difficult place to thrive at right now.
Talents in David Ozoh and Matheus Franca have been consistently overlooked by Hodgson, and even with the injury crisis as it is right now, he may still be reluctant to give any opportunities to academy players.
Ebiowei and Adaramola can now play regularly together to help their development, and begin to thrive away from Hodgson before they return at the end of the season, and a new coach may be willing to give them chances in pre-season.
