Crystal Palace’s head coach, Roy Hodgson is preparing a summer swoop for West Brom’s Craig Dawson and Jay Rodriguez. The Englishman did manage the Albion squad earlier in his career and is looking to restrengthen his current team for an improved 2018/19 campaign.
Dawson’s exit from the Hawthorns Stadium is highly expected after Albion’s failure to escape relegation this season. West Brom are at the bottom-most spot of the Premier League and are basing all their survival hopes on the misfortunes of Stoke City, Southampton and Swansea City along with two wins in the final two games of the regular season.
From the looks of it, those are some really high odds and rarely does the universe lineup in such perfect unison. Dawson might as well sign on the dotted line now rather than waiting for the coming weeks to deliver the imminent result.
The 27-year-old’s has been a key figure in the West Brom’s late push for a miraculous escape. An unfortunate knee injury kept Dawson out of action for almost two months this campaign. He returned after the Boxing Day fixture to really prove his worth to the rest of the league.
He has racked up 178 total appearances in his 8 years with the Throstles, 30 of them registered this season. Albion’s current season should not discount Dawson’s true abilities as a top-flight centre-back.
He has heaps of experience and can lead the Eagles backline with his top-pedigree defensive abilities. The 6 feet 2 inches man is composed and has a lot of versatility in him. The right-back position is almost second nature to him now which goes hand-in-hand with his game-reading skills.
After Alan Pardew’s departure from the Hawthorns, Dawson has managed to take over Jonny Evans’ starting spot under the interim manager, Darren Moore. He and Ahmed Hegazi has paired up in the centre-back positions and has given top sides like Manchester United and Liverpool a run for their money.
Dawson has also been capped 15 times for the England U21 team and holds 3 senior caps for Great Britain. At 27, he is at the prime of his playing career and will almost be an undisputed starter in the Palace squad.
The current season has been nothing but a dark hole of recurring injuries and sheer incompetence from the Palace defenders. Bakary Sakho has already been ruled for the remainder of the season and has been an utter disappointment.
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Dawson will fill out the cracks and will bring some stability to the back 4. Hodgson should definitely go all in for his permanent transfer.
