Crystal Palace could supercharge Olise by signing £30m Edouard upgrade

The 24-year-old could finally lead the line for a Premier League club.

Crystal Palace suffered a 5-0 loss to title-chasing Arsenal over the weekend, making it a poor start to their Premier League career.

 

Since then, Roy Hodgson’s employment has come under intense scrutiny, and the club’s environment is far from ideal.

Now that the transfer window is open, Steve Parish and the board have the opportunity to improve the team’s

performance and thrill the supporters by bringing in a player they were

previously linked to. This player could take Odsonne Edouard’s place at the

front of the attack and simultaneously boost Michael Olise’s creative numbers.

If you can’t beat them, sign them

According to a report from the Daily Star earlier this month, Palace are on the lookout for some attacking reinforcements in January, and Hodgson is targeting Arsenal’s backup striker, Eddie Nketiah, to be precisely that.

The report also revealed that the Gunners have placed a £30m price tag on the head of their number 14, who, over the weekend, laid on the assist for the club’s fourth goal against Palace.

However, due to the 24-year-old’s current contract running until 2027, any deal that sees him head to Selhurst Park will require another striker to arrive at Arsenal first, although money talks in football, and the right offer could tempt the Gunners into selling regardless.

It could end up becoming an expensive deal, but with Edouard’s poor goalscoring form and the chance to see Olise with a more natural finisher in the side, Parish and Co could be tempted into splashing the cash.

How Eddie Nketiah compares to Edouard

When Edouard moved from Celtic to Palace in the summer of 2021 for a fee of around £14m, there was quite a bit of excitement; after all, the Frenchman had scored 18 goals in 26 starts for the Hoops the season before. However, after two and a half years, the 26-year-old hasn’t scored 18 Premier League goals.

On the other hand, Nketiah has scored one goal in as many Champions League starts and five goals in just ten league starts this season.

Known as the “real deal” and a “monster” by Aaron Catterson-Reid of The Athletic, Nketiah has had to establish himself as an all-around goal scorer from Arsenal’s bench. However, if given the chance to start every game for the Eagles, he has the potential to develop into one of the division’s most potent frontmen, at least based on his underlying statistics.

The Arsenal backup has so far this season amassed a non-penalty expected goal and assist figure of 0.44, but he has also scored 0.46 non-penalty goals and contributed 0.18 assists per 90, indicating that he possesses the inherent ability to surpass his statistically predicted performance.

To be fair, Edouard does perform marginally better than his projected numbers, but not nearly as well as Nketiah does.

For a player like Olise, the Englishman’s ability to take more shots per 90 than his possible rivals and need fewer attempts on target to strike the back of the net may be a game-changer.

Eddie Nketiah vs Odsonne Edouard
Stats per 90	Nketiah	Edouard
Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists	0.44	0.43
Non-Penalty Goals	0.46	0.43
Assists	0.18	0.00
Shots	2.94	2.83
Goals per Shot on Target	0.50	0.40
Passing Accuracy	79.3%	70.6%
Shot-Creating Actions	2.39	2.68
Goal-Creating Actions	0.74	0.07
Aerial Duels	1.56	1.45
All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Domestic Season

The deft winger’s projected assists statistic is currently 2.7 per 90, but he has only registered one league assist this season. This is a major clue that his teammates, who he is creating fantastic opportunities for, are not taking advantage of them.

Now, there’s no reason he shouldn’t anticipate seeing his assist total increase more frequently if he was starting alongside the poacher who was born in Lewisham and offering him the same kind of assistance.

 

The Arsenal player may also assist the Frenchman, since he has already contributed three assists this season across all competitions.

Ultimately, Palace could do much worse than sign Nketiah since they sorely need a dependable goal scorer and a successful transfer tale to convince supporters they are on the right track.