A deal with a central defender has now been reached, and Oliver Glasner will soon make his first Crystal Palace signing. Dougie Freedman and the Austrian have already begun recruiting ahead of the summer transfer window, days after the 2023–24 campaign concluded with a thrilling 5-0 victory over Aston Villa.
Although there has been a lot of discussion around Michael Olise and Ebere Eze’s futures, it appears that some preparations have been made for an arriving at Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace close to signing Chadi Riad
Multiple sources claim that an agreement has been reached to sign Real Betis’ Chadi Riad.
First, it was reported by the Spanish news source SPORT that a verbal agreement had been made for a £15 million transfer.
Real Betis’ present goal is to exercise their €3 million (£2.6 million) purchase option with Barcelona, from whom Riad has been on loan for the 2023–24 season, before selling the Morocco international to Crystal Palace for a substantial, quick profit.
Then, Fabrizio Romano provided more information.
According to the trustworthy Italian writer, Riad has already decided to sign with Crystal Palace, and the Eagles are currently “closing in” on making their first summer acquisition under Glasner.
“Crystal Palace are closing in on a deal to sign Chadi Riad from Real Betis as their new centre back,” Romano wrote in full. According to what is being negotiated between the clubs, a formal proposal for €12 million (£10 million) plus €2 million (£1.7 million) in add-ons has been sent. Chadi Riad had previously accepted the #CPFC. We’re off, soon 🦅
The Daily Mail also reported on the story, stating that Moussa Niakhate of Nottingham Forest and Maxence Lacroix of VfL Wolfsburg are targets—albeit more costly possibilities than the Moroccan.
Who is Chadi Riad?
Since Riad is only 20 years old, many Crystal Palace supporters might not be familiar with him.
The Morocco international, who was born in Palma de Mallorca, is a gifted centre defender who has shown promise in 26 La Liga games this season for Real Betis under Manuel Pellegrini.
In addition, Riad is characterised by the Daily Mail as a “tall, athletic, quick, and left-footed” defender. He honed his talents in Barcelona’s renowned La Masia before making major progress at Real Betis this season.
According to WhoScored, the £15 million player has an average pass success rate of 89.7% in La Liga this season, suggesting that he is a clean passer similar to Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen.
Keep a watch on this development, as Crystal Palace may shortly release an official statement.
As the league seasons around Europe conclude, one former Crystal Palace player has won the Golden Boot in Spain.
Weeks after the 4-0 thumping of Manchester United, Crystal Palace’s recent 5-0 victory over Aston Villa demonstrated just how prolific they have been scoring goals.
Jean-Philippe Mateta has been in the goal more often than ever thanks to this offensive improvement; his season total of 19 goals and five assists is excellent.
Given that Mateta recently won the La Liga Golden Boot, we can’t help but wonder how well one former Palace striker would have performed under Oliver Glasner given his prolific goal total.
Alexander Sorloth outscored two world-class players this season in Spain
Alexander Sorloth was an utter failure at Palace; in 16 Premier League games over two seasons, he scored exactly zero goals.
But ever since, he has moved across Europe, scoring goals almost everywhere. However, he recently produced what may have been his best season to date.
Sorloth, who has scored 23 goals and provided six assists this season, has been named the La Liga Golden Boot winner.
He scored a goal for Villarreal on average every 108 minutes, thus this is quite the total. This is accomplished by a squad that had a goal differential of 0 and finished eighth, not exactly being an offensive powerhouse.
Witnessing a Palace reject achieve such success raises questions about how bad Roy Hodgson’s offensive coaching was.
Sorloth could’ve been a different animal under Oliver Glasner
This season, we’ve already seen how much of a difference Glasner has made for Mateta. For Palace, the Frenchman has doubled his previous Premier League goal total.
Given the progress Glasner has made for Sorloth, it will be interesting to observe if he has the same impact on the Sorloth that Palace sold in 2020.
This summer, Palace is rumoured to be looking for a striker to back Mateta and possibly take his place should Juventus make a move.
The club’s decision to bring Sorloth back to Selhurst Park may be an intriguing one, and we think it will be a success under Glasner.
