Crystal Palace continue to lose their star players to top clubs.
Eberechi Eze joined Arsenal this summer, while Michael Olise left for Bayern Munich 12 months ago.
The Eagles managed to keep hold of Marc Guehi, despite a deadline day medical at Liverpool, but, sadly, that feels as though the inevitable is simply being delayed.
Luckily, Jean-Philippe Mateta is still a Palace player, but some top clubs have sniffed around Mateta.
Speaking on It’s Called Soccer, Theo Walcott has been discussing some of the striker moves that happened this summer, and he questioned why nobody went for Mateta.
However, Walcott apologised to Palace fans after this comment, noting how the London club will want to keep hold of the Frenchman at all costs.
Theo Walcott apologises for Jean-Philippe Mateta comment
Walcott spoke about the movement of strikers this summer and Mateta.
The pundit struggled to understand why Mateta hasn’t got a move to another club, before catching himself and apologising for making a comment that could annoy Palace supporters.
Of course, Walcott’s co-host, Rebecca Lowe, is a Palace fan, so he was quick to make an apology to her and all Palace supporters.
“Many people at times when you look at other when they sign strikers from across, you know, the globe. Why not go for someone tried and tested in the Premier League? Mateta, sorry to Palace fans. You want to keep hold of him,” Walcott said.
“Or Delap or someone like Ollie Watkins, you know what you’re going to get with these guys. I’m with you. I kind of understand that. It’s like a stopgap and then have the younger guy to learn from that. I really feel like, you know, teams should do it. I feel Arsenal probably could have done the same thing with Delap to be fair.
Jean-Philippe Mateta compared to Premier League striker signings
It’s been a big summer of movement on the striker front in the Premier League.
Indeed, it feels as though almost every top club has signed a new number nine this summer.
However, Palace have managed to keep hold of Mateta, and that’s a huge boost for Oliver Glasner’s side.
The stats show that Mateta is just as good as many of the big movers this summer.
| Jean-Philippe Mateta | Benjamin Sesko | Alexander Isak | Nick Woltemade | Liam Delap | Joao Pedro | Viktor Gyokeres | |
| Games | 37 | 33 | 34 | 28 | 37 | 27 | 33 |
| Goals | 14 | 13 | 23 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 39 |
| Assists | 2 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
Of course, the likes of Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak’s numbers are a level above Mateta’s, but the Frenchman could hold his own against any of these other movers.
Palace have a truly elite striker on their hands here, and it may not be long before big clubs come sniffing again.
