After what seems like an eternity, football is finally back. A brand-new season, a fresh start and time to firmly put that heart-breaking day at Wembley out of our minds (sorry for the reminder).
It’s been a strange close season as the new TV deal has made transfer prices ridiculous, as if they weren’t already.
When the Wu-Tang Clan uttered the phrase ‘Cash Rules Everything Around Me’ you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a prophecy regarding the future of English football.
Whilst it’s difficult to imagine football veterans such as Arsene Wenger and Tony Pulis relaxing to pre-match playlists filled with the dulcet tones of aggressive 90s hip hop, the sentiment certainly encapsulates the greed surrounding the game and highlights the growing need to adapt to the ever-increasing dominance of money.
Even perennially cash-strapped, plucky little Crystal Palace have been showing intent in the transfer market, throwing out £20+ million bids to anybody that will listen and it looks like we might finally be on the verge of signing a genuinely quality striker to lead the line.
If the Premier League were a trashy TV show set in an American high school, Crystal Palace and Christian Benteke would be the typically peripheral ‘will they won’t they’ love storyline that isn’t actually relevant to the fundamental plot, which ultimately nobody except those involved really cares about.
But for Palace fans the potential signing is everything.
He’s the striker we’ve needed for the last three years. He’s a Cameron Jerome that can finish. A Glenn Murray with pace. A Dwight Gayle that can bully defenders.
He’s struggled since leaving Villa but he will fit perfectly into our system and I have no doubts that if we can get it completed then he will rediscover the form that saw Liverpool spend so much on him in the first place.
Excluding the first day it had been a fairly quiet transfer window in South London but it looks like it’s going to be a busy week, with departures expected as well as new arrivals.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
The greatest trick Steve Parish ever pulled was convincing Everton that Yannick Bolasie is worth £30 million.
Don’t get me wrong – I love Bolasie. He’s one of the most exciting, loveable players I’ve ever seen at Palace.
But he’s largely inconsistent and getting that sort of money for a player who disguises the fact that he only has 10 good games a season with a few pretty step overs is incredible business.
With Delaney unlikely to be first choice this season and rumours of Jedinak leaving, there may be concerns that we are breaking up the spine of the team, with only Ward and Zaha remaining as regulars from the squad that got us promoted.
But in order to improve as a team and move forward, it is necessary to gradually yet constantly upgrade the squad, even if it means replacing fans’ favourites.
In the words of Winston Churchill, ‘to improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.’
Let’s just hope that the change is reflected in our form, as we look to put the second half of last season behind us, ideally starting by beating West Brom on Saturday.
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