It’s been a rollercoaster couple of weeks to be a Crystal Palace supporter.
Eagles fans did manage to see their beloved team win at Wembley again in the Community Shield final, having witnessed their never-say-die side fight back from 2-0 down to surprise Arne Slot’s Liverpool to lift the early-season honours.
However, all this ecstasy so early into the campaign hasn’t been enough to tempt Eberechi Eze to stay put at Selhurst Park, with his disallowed free-kick effort against Chelsea on the opening day in the Premier League all she wrote on a stunning Palace career, as he now edges ever closer to a £60m move to Tottenham Hotspur.
Marc Guehi could be the next high-profile name to ditch Oliver Glasner’s men, too, leaving the South London side with plenty to do in the transfer window before September’s abrupt cut-off.
Crystal Palace in talks to sign £14m star
It had been an extremely low-key window so far from a Palace perspective up until this boiling point.
The only notable addition to the building for the Eagles this summer has been ex-Ajax full-back Borna Sosa joining for £3m, but with Guehi and Eze both looking to be heading out the exit door, expect their activity to ramp up.
Jakub Kiwior looks to be on their list of centre-back targets if the forceful Englishman does seal a move away to Liverpool, while Bilal El Khannouss is also on the Palace radar to try and soften the blow of the former Queens Park Rangers attacking midfielder leaving.
There are also striker targets on Palace’s mind, too, if reports are to be believed, with a loan move allegedly in the works for hit-and-miss Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Hwang Hee-Chan to move to Selhurst Park, away from Molineux.
The Athletic has revealed that talks have taken place over a move that will help Glasner and Co. fill the void left by Eddie Nketiah’s notable injury absence, with no deal in place just yet.
While he will be viewed as a temporary sprinkle of quality, the £14m man does possess shades of Palace fan favourite Jean Phillippe-Mateta’s game at the peak of his powers, which will hopefully be on full view in South London shortly.
Why Hwang possesses shades of Mateta
After all, even if those named do desert Selhurst Park this summer, Glasner will know he can rely on Mateta to deliver more moments of magic like this chipped effort against Arsenal for the Eagles across the 2025/26 season.
In total, the towering, but skilful, Frenchman has a lethal 47 strikes next to his name from 154 appearances for Palace, which included him bagging his side’s opener at Wembley to kickstart the Community Shield comeback.
However, he hasn’t always found his time at Selhurst Park to be a smooth sailing experience, with only 13 goals coming his way across his first three seasons at the Premier League outfit, before everything impressively clicked into gear.
Hwang has faced a similar reality at Wolves, but while Mateta has come into his own donning Palace’s distinct claret and blue over the past few seasons, his Asian counterpart has found that his own goalscoring prowess has somewhat fizzled out.
24/25
26
2 + 1
23/24
31
13 + 3
22/23
32
4 + 1
21/22
31
5 + 1
Indeed, last season saw Hwang only fire home a meagre two goals across 26 competitions, while Mateta reached 17 across all his games, on the contrary.
Yet, just the season before Mateta’s explosion, the former RB Leipzig attacker had managed to collect an impressive 13 strikes for the Old Gold, leading to former Arsenal goal machine Ian Wright declaring that the 29-year-old has “got everything” you want in a desirable striker.
His standout efforts during the 2023/24 campaign did see him fall short of the FA Cup-winning attacker again – with Mateta trumping his tally by six goals – but the pair were deemed as statistically similar across this season, as per FBref, as Hwang attempts to be another unsung hero-style figure for the Eagles up top.
After all, both strikers in question joined the English game from Germany with points to prove, as they now prepare to potentially link up with each other in attack at Selhurst Park, while Glasner’s men also look for a positive future on the horizon, likely without Guehi and Eze.
