Of all 20 Premier League clubs, one of the sides most likely to be extremely active in the final few days of the transfer window are Crystal Palace.
On Saturday, it was confirmed that Eberechi Eze had left the club, joining Arsenal for £67.5m, which represents Palace’s biggest ever sale.
Meantime, the Eagles have made just two new signings, bringing in Walter Benítez to be the new back-up goalkeeper on a free, while paying £3m to sign Borna Sosa, a reserve left-wing-back, from Ajax.
Thus, Oliver Glasner has just 20 senior outfield players in his squad, including those who are currently injured, which is simply not enough if Palace are going to successfully balance both domestic and European commitments.
As a result, the next few days are likely to be very busy for Steve Parish and his recruitment staff, but are they closing in on a Premier League winger valued at £15m?
Crystal Palace's need for signings
Crystal Palace badly need strength in depth all across the pitch, including at centre-back, hence why they reportedly hold an interest in former Newcastle United man, Lloyd Kelly, among others.
Meantime, as they seek to fill the enormous void vacated by Eze, the Eagles are set to sign Yéremy Pino from Villarreal for £26m, with the Spain international having travelled to London to undergo a medical.
However, he might not be the only winger on his way to Selhurst Park.
That’s because, as reported by The Sun, Crystal Palace are ‘in talks’ with Arsenal over the possibility of signing Reiss Nelson.
They add that the Gunners value the 25-year-old at £15m, with Arsenal needing to raise funds before Monday’s deadline, having already spent big; Jakub Kiwior, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fábio Vieira are also very much for sale.
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Nelson joined Arsenal’s academy at the age of eight so, following loan spells at Hoffenheim, Feyenoord and Fulham, could he finally be on the move permanently, perhaps returning to South London where he was born and raised?
What Reiss Nelson would bring to Crystal Palace
Despite being 25 years old, Nelson actually does not have a vast amount of senior experience under his belt.
To date, he has played just 163 senior matches: 90 for Arsenal, 32 for Feyenoord, 29 during a loan spell at Hoffenheim and 12 in Fulham colours last season, before suffering a season-ending knee injury in December, curtailing his time with the Cottagers.
Nevertheless, he has always been a highly-rated player, with Mikel Arteta labelling him an “exciting offensive talent”, praising his “tremendous ability”, while Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout notes that “pace, acceleration, dribbling, technique and flair” are amongst his primary attributes.
For various reasons, one has to go back to Nelson’s loan at Feyenoord for the last time he played more than 641 minutes in a season, so let’s assess his statistics from that year in the Netherlands.
Minutes
1,508
16th
Goals
4
8th
Assists
6
4th
Big chances created
5
7th
Shots on target
15
7th
Progressive carries
95
5th
Attempted take-ons
66
6th
Take-on success %
67.7%
3rd*
Carries into the box
43
2nd
Average Sofascore rating
7.02
11th
*minimum 52 attempted.
As the table outlines, during his campaign in Rotterdam, despite limited minutes, Nelson was a key contributor for Feyenoord as they finished third in the Eredivisie and also reached the inaugural Europa Conference League Final, beaten by Roma in Tirana.
While the Englishman’s end-product was somewhat lacking, the table underlines that his strengths are his dribbling, ranked highly for progressive carries, attempted take-ons, take-on success percentage and carries into the opposition penalty area.
Even in the Premier League last season, he ended up 17th for attempted take-ons per 90, as well as seventh in the division for carries into the final third on a per-90 basis, despite. not taking to the pitch after 5 December.
Thus, while clearly not as good at Eze, Nelson certainly shares his compatriot’s quality dribbling ability, something Palace’s squad now lacks following the departure of their talisman.
In Glasner’s 3-4-3 system, able to be deployed as an inside forward, thereby closer to goal rather than out on the touchline, a move to Selhurst could get the best out of Nelson as he seeks to revitalise his career and prevent it from fizzling out.