‘Two big names failed Everton medicals and Aston Villa told not to sign third star’
AC Milan could have gone ahead and signed Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta despite his injury problems.
That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, after Mateta’s £30million move to AC Milan collapsed.
Mateta was left out of Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win over Brighton after not wanting to be involved against Nottingham Forest amid an expected move to AC Milan at the end of the January transfer window.
The Italian club though chose not to go through with the deal due to a problem with Mateta’s knee, which may require surgery.
AC Milan could have ‘gone against medical advice’
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – revealed previous instances of signing players despite injury worries.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness states that medical advice is not always “completely right.”
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “It’s funny, I mean, I’ve had three transfers in my own experience where medicals have become an issue for those three players.
“They’re all players now that I could probably mention their names because they no longer play in the game, but certainly one that we had at Everton was Eidur Gudjohnsen, and we decided not to move ahead with that because of the medical situation.
“Another one at Everton was Joleon Lescott, where I was advised not to sign him, but I went ahead and went against the medical advice, and he played every single game and Joleon was a superb player for us and he had a medical condition, yet we still, I’d say we went against some of the medical advice, but there was conflicting, but we did that so it’s a difficult decision to make, and the third one was at Villa.
“James Chester again right at the last minute. I was advised that there were issues about his fitness, but again we went ahead with that with conflicting advice and I chose on the side to go, and he turned out to be a superb performer and a warrior for Villa, and a true pro. So the doctors, while they give you some advice on these sorts of things, they don’t always get it completely right in terms of the way it’s going to pan out longer term.”
January arrival makes immediate impact at Crystal Palace
Whilst Mateta was left out of the matchday squad, Ismaila Sarr gave Crystal Palace a crucial three points against Brighton in their fight to avoid Premier League relegation.
Crystal Palace fans were left delighted at the contribution of Evann Guessand, who assisted the winning goal on his first appearance for the club since joining on loan from Aston Villa.
Permanent January arrival Jorgen Strand Larsen also made his debut for the club, with the 26-year-old showing promising signs to the Crystal Palace fanbase.