Crystal Palace told to finalise new deals as spending power revealed
Crystal Palace are in with a shout of claiming silverware again this season as they look to progress into the latter rounds of the Conference League.
Crystal Palace beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season to book their place in Europe.
Oliver Glasner’s side missed out on automatic qualification for the knock-out rounds of the Conference League, meaning they will have to take part in a play-off game next month.
Palace have signed Brennan Johnson from Tottenham in a £35million deal, strengthening their attacking options for the second half of the campaign.
Selhurst Park chiefs now have to make a decision about bringing in further additions.
Why Crystal Palace must agree new signings
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Palace’s squad isn’t big enough to compete in the second half of the season.
Their recent poor run of form has seen the Eagles slip to 14th in the Premier League table.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “Well, financially they’re in a strong position. They’ve got probably one of the wealthiest set of owners around now.
“They are not all desperate to put their hand in their pocket, so that’s clearly an issue. There’s the cash issue there, but the PSR issue is probably not a problem because they’ve been well-run historically.
“The squad is too small for what’s coming. You’re already starting to see it in terms of on the field, but you’ll see it more in the second half of the season when they get into the real meat of these tournaments, particularly the Conference League, where they’re going to be very close.
“They’re obviously going to be in the quarters, semis or final, within those three rounds. I mean, probably the semis or final, so they’re going to go a long way. They’re going to have a lot of games left. They need a squad.”
Why Crystal Palace’s spending plan isn’t about Oliver Glasner
Glasner has been linked with an exit, but Borson insisted Palace’s ambitions to strengthen in the window are more about their opportunities on the field.
“It’s not really about Glasner,” said Borson.
“It’s about a combination of what’s coming. It’s just the realities of trying to compete when you’re on the verge of potentially winning the Conference League, which is probably the most important thing that they’ve done as a club for many years.
“They want to give themselves a chance at doing it. To do that, they’re going to have to have a squad that’s going to be able to cope with the Premier League and those last few games in that tournament.”
Palace are set to host Aston Villa at Selhurst Park on Wednesday (7 January) as they look to move up the Premier League table.
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