Crystal Palace’s plans for 2025 are shaping up with attacking reinforcements at the forefront of Oliver Glasner’s mind right now.
This is far from a surprise considering the Eagles are the joint second-lowest scorers in the Premier League this season.
Despite a decent defensive group, the attack has been letting Crystal Palace down and is a large factor in why Oliver Glasner’s side are 19th in the table.
The Eagles have been poor at finishing chances, but more concerningly, they have also been poor at creating chances, and the absence of Michael Olise has been sorely felt throughout the campaign.
However, the struggles are not expected to threaten Glasner with the sack as Crystal Palace chiefs retain confidence that things will turn around.
However, in order for this to happen January additions are now being eyed up by Glasner, and a creative attacker is one of these.
Crystal Palace must beat Arsenal to Rayan Cherki
As far as players available to Crystal Palace in the wing positions, it is arguable that the very best possible addition would be Rayan Cherki.
Rayan Cherki of Lyon, Joao Mario of Besiktas during the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase MD3 football match between Olympique Lyonnais (OL, ...
Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
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Cherki was linked with Crystal Palace in the summer, with a move looking possible on deadline day before he opted to remain at Lyon.
However, since then Lyon’s financial state has been plunged into perilous circumstances with John Textor now facing a possible relegation to Ligue 2 if around £100m is not raised before May.
Therefore, chances are the French giants will need to make sales and their most vital commodity may very well be Cherki. Due to this, already the Eagles have been linked with a £20m January swoop
However, Dougie Freedman won’t have a free run at signing Cherki, with Arsenal also reportedly showing an interest according to Dean Jones on the Ranks FC podcast – but Palace must beat the Gunners to this signing.
Crystal Palace have one big advantage in the race, which is that first-team football regularly will be on offer as Cherki probably becomes an instant starter.
READ MORE: Who is Dougie Freedman? The Crystal Palace Sporting Director linked with Manchester United switch
Cherki could finally replace Michael Olise
In the summer, when Olise departed for Bayern Munich, Crystal Palace fans were left excited about the thought of who would replace him.
The impressive Antonio Nusa was one name mentioned, however it was ultimately Ismaila Sarr who was signed. The Senegalese winger has so far been poor, although against Aston Villa he was impressive.
However adding a player like Cherki would be the ambitious move Palace fans would love to see, with the Frenchman tipped for greatness within football.
Martin Mosnier from Eurosport France via TNT Sports has heralded Cherki’s quality: “Cherki is an exceptional dribbler, one of the first things one notices when watching him is that he appears to be ambipedal, as he can seemingly utilise both feet equally well.”
Cherki’s similar players list on FBRef includes some of Europe’s very best talents such as Ousmane Dembele, Xavi Simons, Cole Palmer and Lamine Yamal.
The 21-year-old is in the 98th percentile of shot-creating actions among his positional peers with 6.6 per 90. While also completing 4.41 take-ons per 90, which is in the 99th percentile.
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