The permanent signing of Jordan Ayew to Crystal Palace in July 2019 for a reported £2 Million in 2019 was not met with a flurry of support from supporters.
Considering the Eagles had been back in the top flight for a few seasons at this point, it felt incredibly flat.
Fans were hoping for more ambition from the club, but Ayew, who moved to Selhurt Park from Swansea City would prove to be pound for pound one of the best signings that the club would make in recent years.
His move to Leicester City during the summer transfer window has proven to be a massive mistake for the South East London side.
A New Hope
The end of the 2023/2024 season under Oliver Glasner felt like a new direction for the red and blue. After the more conservative approach of Roy Hodgson, the Europa League-winning tactician looked like someone who could genuinely take the club to the next level.
After nearly a decade back in the Premier League, it was time for Palace to really establish themselves and hope for something other than 10th. It felt like European football was a possibility. But then the summer transfer window of 2024 happened. It would prove to be tumultuous for CPFC fans.
Olise, Anderson and Ayew
The sale of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich for a reported £50 Million was inevitable.
A player of that quality, with that low a release clause (which you cannot blame the management for, he likely wouldn’t have re-signed with the club without such a bargain number in place), was never going to be staying at a mid-table Premier League side for long. The board would’ve known they had a limited shelf life when it came to relying on the French winger.
Joachim Anderson moving to Fulham felt like a shock to some fans, but the retention of Marc Guehi, plus the signing of Maxence Lacroix and Trevoh Chalobah seemed to cover that quite well.
The loss of Ayew, especially when you look at where Palace are right now, has really proven to be a big hit to the club.
Last Season at Palace
The 2023/2024 season for Ayew was solid, with 35 appearances in the Premier League showing a return of four goals and seven assists. He also found a teammate with 81% of his attempted passes and had an average of 11.47 passes in the final third on a per 90 minute basis.
After years of being a starting XI player, Ayew had moved into a more off-the-bench role, but he had proven that he could still be relied on in that sort of position.
Even now, Ayew has managed to grab two goals in 11 matches for Leicester in the English top flight, showing that he can still find the net in crucial moments.
Granted, Ayew was never a prolific scorer for the Eagles, with goals for Palace being extremely limited over the past few years (Jean-Phillip Mateta and Odsonne Edouard also haven’t been the 30 goals a season striker the club have desperately needed since Glenn Murray struck 30 in the Championship during the 2012/13 season), but he was a player that they could rely on to track back when needed to support the right back, create moments at the front and win fouls.
Palace are SORELY missing that right now, and considering that Daichi Kamada, Ismaïla Sarr (who Glasner just does not want to start for some reason) and bizarrely Eddie Nketiah (being forced wide when he really doesn’t want to be) aren’t doing the job in the wide positions this season there’s a good chance that Ayew would be starting for Palace if he was still there.
