Crystal Palace have just recalled Jean-Philippe Mateta back to London from Paris, where he has been residing for the Olympic Games.
Thierry Henry included the Crystal Palace No.14 in his France squad – which is usually an U23 selection – as one of his permitted overage players.
Now, Jean-Philippe Mateta has left the France camp to return to Crystal Palace, but why? Let’s take a look…
Why Crystal Palace have recalled Jean-Philippe Mateta
A story from L’Equipe now states that Crystal Palace have recalled the Frenchman to undergo medical examinations at the club’s Copers Cope training ground in Beckenham.
It is not a situation unique to Mateta, however.
Fitness staff at Crystal Palace are currently examining the levels of every player as Oliver Glasner prepares to begin pre-season training.
Mateta is no exception despite his involvement in the Olympic Games, and the 27-year-old will be in London until Friday due to the medical checks, meaning he misses France’s final warmup game against the Dominican Republic before competitive action begins against the United States on Wednesday 24th July.
L’Equipe do not explain how Henry feels about this, although things seem quite relaxed in the France camp right now, as the 46-year-old has already allowed Michael Olise to fly off to Germany to complete his £50.8m move to Bayern Munich.
Wise decision from Oliver Glasner
If Henry takes France all the way in Paris this summer, Mateta is likely to miss our opening game of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign against Brentford, which falls on Sunday 18th August.
The final of the Olympic Games football occurs on Saturday 10th August.
Mateta is then expected to have some personal time off, so unless he sacrifices that, the man from Sevran is set to miss that clash against Brentford.
Therefore, it was imperative that Glasner does not allow his talisman to fall even further behind pre-season preparations at Crystal Palace by missing the medical examinations, so we’re glad to see he was recalled.
READ MORE: Crystal Palace now want to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta’s France Olympic Games teammate
Hopefully, Mateta’s physical data is looking good, and he can fire France to gold at the Olympic Games.
