Crystal Palace keen on “explosive” talent who could replace Édouard

The 2023/24 Premier League season has been a rather middling one for Crystal Palace, as despite picking up some impressive wins over the likes of Manchester United and drawing away to Manchester City, they find themselves down in 14th place and out of the FA Cup already.

Roy Hodgson’s side don’t look in any real danger of being relegated, but neither do they really look like challenging those above them, and a significant reason for that is their lack of goals.

The Eagles’ 22 goal haul is the third-worst in the league, so it is not surprising to see the club sniffing around a new striker who could bench Odsonne Édouard and has been likened to the legendary Didier Drogba in the past.

Crystal Palace consider move for in-form striker

According to the Standard, Crystal Palace are interested in adding some more firepower to their underwhelming frontline this month and have identified Krasnodar’s Jhon Córdoba as someone who could do just that.

The report has revealed that the twice-capped Colombian was recommended to the club by midfielder and compatriot Jefferson Lerma and that while the Eagles would prefer a loan move, an option to buy the 30-year-old could also be included in any deal.

However, the South Londoners aren’t alone in their admiration of the former Espanyol man, as the Standard has also named Nottingham Forest and Everton as other sides circling the in-form striker.

Regardless, while the finances might not be a problem for Palace, the fact that this deal would include a Russian side might be, as transfers from the country to British clubs have been practically impossible in the last couple of years.

That said, if a deal can be worked out, the goals that Córdoba could bring would surely fire the Eagles up the table.

How Jhon Córdoba compares to Odsonne Édouard

Now, Édouard is undoubtedly a talented footballer. After all, in his final full season at Celtic, he scored 16 goals and provided three assists in just 23 league starts. Still, since making his way to England, he has been consistently underwhelming, with his current haul of six goals in 15 league starts being his best season in the capital.

There is certainly a place for him at Palace, but he just hasn’t justified his position as one of the team’s leading strikers, and while it would be fair to argue that signing a 30-year-old Córdoba wouldn’t help in the long term, his current strike-rate would be a massive boost for Hodgson’s side.

While in the Bundesliga, he was very open about who he styled his game on, saying: “Didier Drogba was my role model. A battering-ram type who would always ride roughshod over everyone.”

While comments like that can often lead to ridicule and extra pressure, it seems as if there was a general agreement from those who watched and played with him that his style of play was similar to how people perceived the Ivorian great.

Former FC Koln teammate Simon Terodde described him as “the kind of player who can get the ball on the halfway line, run towards goal and score”, which at this moment in time is precisely what Palace need.

Moreover, the “explosive” forward, as described by former Espanyol sporting director Oscar Perarnau, has reached double digits for goals in three of his last five full seasons and looks well on his way to doing the same this year, which is not something that can be said for the Frenchman.

Ultimately, with Palace’s need for a reliable goalscorer so acute, they should be pushing hard to get this deal over the line.