It seems Crystal Palace are pretty sure they would survive the relegation at the end of the season; at least that is what it seems from their transfer targets. According to reports, the Eagles are planning a bid for Serie A defender Ivan Strinic coming summer as Sam Allardyce aims to bolster his back line.
Defending has been quite a challenging task for Palace this season as they have conceded a whopping 46 goals. And it didn’t take much time for Allardyce to realise the fact the crux was its brittle defence that was easily infiltrated by opponents. The first thing that the former England manager did was to bring in two established left-backs in the winter transfer window- Jeffrey Schlupp and Patrick van Aanholt.
It has now sorted out the problem to some extent as Palace look to have got back to winning ways. Palace are two places and four points above the relegation zone and if they are to see through the deal of Strinic, they have to stay in the Premier League at all costs.
The 29-year-old Croatian international hasn’t had the best of seasons this campaign, as he has fallen down the pecking order managing just eight league appearances this season. Clearly, he is not in the best books of manager Maurizio Sarri and would be looking for a different club in search of first-team football. A left-back by nature, Strinic can also play in an advanced position on the left wing. In the limited appearances that he made this season, he still managed to register two assists.
Sarri has Faouzi Ghoulam playing as the left-back and the Algerian international has been nothing short of brilliant so far. Hence, if Palace bid the right amount, Napoli would be more than happy to part ways with the player. And given Palace’s winter shopping, where they spent £30m to bolster the squad midseason, the London club surely seem to have the financial prowess to see this deal through.
A youth product of Croatian side HNK Hajduk Split, Strinic was picked by French side Lens back in 2006, which ended badly. He moved back to Croatia, this time to NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac and returned to HNK Hajduk Split in 2008. After three impressive seasons there, Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk bought him in 2011. And after four years, he caught Napoli’s eyes.
Strinic will have a stiff competition with Schlupp and Aanholt for the left-back position if he decides to move. However, with Wilfred Zaha’s future in doubt with Palace, Allardyce might have one of his defensive options move up front.
