Crystal Palace have been praised for his or her switch enterprise since Patrick Vieira’s arrival at Selhurst Park, with the Frenchman taking up the workforce that was the oldest within the Premier League earlier than injecting some thrilling kids into the squad.
Conor Gallagher, Marc Guehi, Odsonne Edouard and Michael Olise are all younger gamers who had been introduced in final summer season to enhance the workforce at Selhurst Park, turning into necessary and key gamers in Vieira’s philosophy.
Nevertheless, Palace didn’t at all times get it proper earlier than the French supervisor was appointed and again in 2014 the membership had in all probability their largest switch howler of all time after they missed their alternative to signal Liverpool famous person Virgil van Dijk for simply £5m.
On the time, the Dutch defender was making a reputation for himself in Scotland with Celtic however dreamed of taking part in within the Premier League, finally catching the eye of each Palace and Southampton who then battled it out for his signature, however the Eagles pulled out on the final minute.
It’s claimed {that a} scouting report was the explanation Palace made the horrible choice to not signal now among the best centre-backs on the earth, with Neil Warnock revealing precisely why the membership snubbed the chance (by way of The Mirror):
“The one which received away was Van Dijk. I received provided him after I was at Crystal Palace for simply £5m again in 2014.”
“However my chief scout mentioned he was too gradual and he ended up at Southampton as an alternative! It’s a disgrace as a result of something he might lack in tempo, he makes up for 10-fold in his skill to learn the sport.”
Since then, Van Dijk has received a Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, EFL League Cup and UEFA Tremendous Cup, signing for Liverpool again in 2017, and set a Premier League report in March 2022 when he didn’t lose a single league recreation at Anfield for 60 consecutive fixtures with 52 victories and eight attracts.
The £220k-per-week ace who was hailed “outrageous” by Jonathan Woodgate, is now value £45m, an eye-watering 9 instances greater than Crystal Palace might’ve signed him for eight years in the past. And to rub additional salt within the wound, Southampton had the pleasure of cashing in on Van Dijk for a whopping £75m, one thing that Steve Parish will certainly lose sleep over.
Will not be signing VVD Palace’s worst switch choice?
Sure
No
With that being mentioned, while you have a look at not solely the participant Van Dijk has turn into but in addition the financials concerned and the asset the gifted participant turned it might even be one of many worst Premier League switch choices of all time.
