Predicting Final Premier League 2017/18 Table After Transfer Deadline
16. Crystal Palace
There is little that will excite Palace fans about their summer activity. There was not one attacking addition and Mamadou Sakho, a loan hero from 2016-17, was a necessary £26m buy after three straight losses to start the season.
Two of Frank de Boer’s other first-team recruits are also defenders: 20-year-old Dutchman Jaro Riedewald and 19-year-old Manchester United loanee Timothy Fosu-Mensah. Asking them to play Ajax football and adapt to being Premier League regulars is a big task, and only increases the importance of Sakho’s arrival.
De Boer won’t be given much time to impart his philosophy on Palace. Whether he can make it work, or someone else has to pick up the scraps, Palace just about have enough to stay up, with the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke.