Wilf’s only half the story for Palace

by Max Hall

Not surprisingly, given Crystal Palace’s inability to register a Premier League point when Wilfried Zaha was injured last season, all of this summer’s pre-season focus has been on the Ivorian.

In a sport overly prone to singling out superstars, Palace are perilously close to being a one-man team but, important as keeping ‘Wilf’ at Selhurst Park is to the Eagles’ top-flight prospects, there is another piece of the south London puzzle that is even more important.

Roy Hodgson, who will celebrate his 71st birthday on Thursday August 9, was every bit as important last season in reviving a team left flailing by Frank de Boer’s disastrous seven-game spell, as his livewire winger.

Just like Zaha, Hodgson is intrinsically linked with the borough of Croydon, near to the famous south London club. But, unlike his star attacker – and despite the miraculous feat of turning around a club that was pointless and goalless when the veteran manager was parachuted in – Hodgson is in no imminent danger of being poached by a bigger rival. And that’s good news for the Eagles as fans sweat over whether Zaha will be swayed by a mega offer as the countdown to the big kick-off ticks down.

Will he, won’t he?

Manager and player have both stated publicly that Zaha is going nowhere but, after a club and international managerial career spanning more than four decades and encompassing some of the biggest jobs in the game, Hodgson knows how much weight to put in such declarations of undying loyalty. The former England manager will already have targets in mind to replace his biggest asset should the nightmare scenario unfold, and a bank-busting offer for the Ivory Cast international arrive, possibly from Tottenham.

It would take a huge amount of cash to persuade chairman Steve Parish to sell, and that’s just as well because after understandably complaining about a threadbare squad that was torn apart by injuries last season, Hodgson has had little cash to rebuild this summer, a legacy of profligate spending from his predecessors and the club’s ambitious plan to upgrade their richly atmospheric stadium.

Hodgson has cleared away dead wood in the likes of Lee Chung Yong, Bakary Sako and goalkeeping veteran Diego Cavalieri, and also ushered Joel Ward out after the exciting emergence of academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka last time out – the youngster’s emergence a real silver lining to that injury cloud.

Competition for the gloves

The addition of Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita has been trailed since January and will provide competition to the loyal Wayne Hennessey, who will probably never win Palace fans over despite his recurring heroics for Wales.

Cheikhou Kouyate adds Premier League experience from West Ham and promising young German Max Meyer is an intriguing addition, but it remains to be seen whether either will be an upgrade on Yohan Cabaye who, in a sign of the times, turned his back on the EPL in favor of a lucrative free transfer to Dubai’s Al Nasr.

And that’s it, in terms of new arrivals thus far, though Palace fans won’t be surprise by any late-season additions, and the wily Hodgson is sure to mine the loan market for all it’s worth as he attempts to improve on last season’s 11th place finish. Will he be able to pull it off? He certainly has the nous, now it’s over to you Wilf.