Why Crystal Palace missed a trick by not signing Olivier Giroud in January
Back in December 2019, Daily Mail had claimed that Crystal Palace were interested in signing Chelsea outcast Olivier Giroud. However, no deal materialized in January and the centre-forward stayed put at Stamford Bridge.
Olivier Giroud, 33, has started just two Premier League games for Chelsea this season. He has largely been out of favour this season with Tammy Abraham staking a convincing claim to be regarded as the Blues’ No.1 striker. In fact, the France international hasn’t featured for the Blues since the end of November and was not included in the squad to face Leicester City.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace’s form has dipped massively over the last few weeks. They have dropped to 14th in the table following a seven-game winless run. In fact, Roy Hodgson’s side are yet to win a league game in 2020.
To push for a top-half finish this season, the Eagles signed Scott Banks and Cenk Tosun on loan from Everton. Palace have struggled once again for goals, with Hodgson’s side managing only 23 goals in 26 league games. Neither Wilfried Zaha nor Andros Townsend has been consistent this term, while Christian Benteke scored in the 3-1 defeat to Everton over the weekend in what was just his first goal of 2019/20 campaign.
Tosun has been brought in on loan to solve the south London club’s goalscoring woes. Going by his record of just 9 goals in 44 league games for Everton, the Turk cannot be relied upon entirely. Keeping that in mind, Hodgson missed a trick by not signing Giroud last month.
Giroud has enjoyed very limited game time under Frank Lampard at Stamford, failing to open his account in the five league appearances he has made this term. Nonetheless, the 33-year-old has massive Premier League experience, having scored 77 goals in 225 top-flight appearances. That’s a testament to his goalscoring ability and the Frenchman certainly could’ve helped Palace in the attack.
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Verdict
Thus, Hodgson should’ve signed Giroud, whose experience at the highest level and goalscoring ability would have improved Palace’s productivity in front of the goal.
