Crystal Palace are now pushing to sign one of the Championship’s best players using the Michael Olise money.
Dougie Freedman – Director of Football at Selhurst Park – received an extra £50.8m to play with in the transfer market this summer after the France U21 international moved to Bayern Munich.
Now, Crystal Palace are looking to spend a large portion of that cash to sign a player many believe could become the next Michael Olise level talent to emerge out of the Championship…
Crystal Palace pushing to sign Crysencio Summerville
A story from the Mirror (print version, Sunday 14th July, page 74) claims that Crystal Palace are now trying to sign Leeds United No.10 Crysencio Summerville.
It is said that PSG have actually registered interest in the Dutchman, although the Eagles – along with Newcastle and Aston Villa – are the sides now stepping up their pursuit.
The Mirror state that Summerville is likely to leave Elland Road after Daniel Farke failed to take the Whites back into the Premier League, with Leeds United demanding £40m for the 2023/24 Championship Player of the Season.
That is obviously a huge fee for Crystal Palace to spend, and would smash the current transfer record – the £27m spent to sign Christian Benteke from Liverpool in August 2016.
However, the Mirror add that Crystal Palace have the funds to sign Summerville if Freedman genuinely sees the 22-year-old as a worthy Olise replacement, which adds an interesting dimension to our summer transfer window.
How the Dutchman fared last season
As aforesaid, Summerville was named Championship Player of the Season for his efforts last term, so let’s take a look at how he performed, and in what position.
The man from Rotterdam impressively scored 19 goals and also provided nine assists in 43 Championship appearances, helping Leeds United reach the Play-Off final, where Southampton eventually ran out 1-0 winners.
Summerville can operate on the right, where Olise shone for us, making four appearances in that area last season, although most of his game time came from the left, where he played 36 games.
Therefore, the Netherlands U21 international would not exactly be a natural replacement for Olise, although it would still be brilliant to have a talent of this calibre at Selhurst Park.
By the sounds of it, Franco Umeh could get his chance to shine out on the right flank instead.
