Tony Cascarino has heaped praise on Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta for his start to the new season.
Crystal Palace have started the new season in blistering fashion, with Oliver Glasner’s side now sitting pretty in 3rd place of the Premier League table after six games.
Last time out, Crystal Palace beat Liverpool 2-1 at Selhurst Park to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and to maintain a club record 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
So far this season, 2022 signing Jean-Philippe Mateta has scored twice in six Premier League matches, adding to the 14 he scored last season and the 16 he scored in the season before.
Mateta is certainly used to the Premier League now. But that’s not always been the case.
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Tony Cascarino says Jean-Philippe Mateta has improved loads at Crystal Palace
Mateta took a while to get going in a Palace shirt. He scored just one Premier League goal in his first half season at the club, five in his next and two in the 2022/23 campaign, before bursting into life in 2023/24 with 16 goals in 35 league matches.
Recently, Wayne Rooney has hailed Mateta’s Crystal Palace form, and now Tony Cascarino has, too. Speaking on The Game podcast, Cascarino said: “Again, Mateta, in my opinion, is probably the most improved player I’ve ever watched, I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched Mateta two years ago and the one I’m witnessing now, completely different.”
The 28-year-old will need to be bang in form again this season if Palace are to maintain their current trajectory. Worryingly, though, come next summer, Mateta will only have one more year left on his current deal.
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Will Jean-Philippe Mateta sign a new contract at Crystal Palace?
Given his form, it’d be inevitable for fans to worry about one of the so-called bigger teams coming in and testing the water with a bid for Mateta.
But he’s playing European football at Palace and thriving in the Premier League, so a new deal shouldn’t be ruled out.
And over the summer, We Are Palace exclusively revealed that Mateta was unhappy at not landing a new contract in the summer, but that the club are working on a new deal before January.
Chief transfer correspondent Graeme Bailey told us: “I am told that Palace are continuing talks. The intention is for him to have signed by January, but they also thought that was true in the summer. The player has been ready to commit for a number of months now.”
Crystal Palace return to action against Dynamo Kyiv in the Conference League on Thursday.
