Why Crystal Palace dodged a bullet by not signing Jordon Ibe in January
According to The Sun, Crystal Palace turned to Bournemouth winger Jordon Ibe on the January deadline day after losing Jarrod Bowen to West Ham. However, the Eagles missed out on him as the winger stayed put at Bournemouth.
Jordon Ibe, 24, has made only two Premier League appearances so far this season. He is now more than four months without a first-team appearance to his name. The winger is out of contract at the Vitality Stadium at the end of the season, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Cherries offer him a new contract.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace have endured a massive dip in form of late. They are without a win in 2020 and have dropped to 14th place in the table after such a bright start to the campaign. The Eagles were beaten 3-1 at Everton on Saturday – a third successive defeat for Roy Hodgson’s side.
As far as Palace’s January window is concerned, Hodgson managed to sign only two players – Cenk Tosun and Scott Banks. Tosun has been signed on loan from Everton until the end of the season, while Banks, who has joined from Dundee United, has been loaned to Scottish Championship side Alloa Athletic.
The South London outfit have struggled to score goals this season, managing just 23 goals in 26 games – the joint-worst record in the Premier League alongside Watford. Jordan Ayew has led the Eagles attack very well and Hodgson has brought in Tosun to add more productivity in front of goal.
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However, Palace did get lucky by not signing Ibe last month. Bournemouth splashed £15million on Ibe to sign him from Liverpool in 2016 (h/t BBC), but he has failed to live up to his price tag at the South Coast club.
The former England Under-21 international has made 78 league appearances for Bournemouth so far, contributing with just three goals and seven assists in the process. Truly, he has struggled to bring any level of consistency to his game, failing to convince Eddie Howe.
Verdict
The aforementioned numbers are simply not good enough for a player who has a good amount of Premier League experience under his belt. At the age of 24, Ibe still has a lot of room to develop as a player but Palace missing out on the winger is a blessing in disguise as it would have been a huge risk signing him given that he has failed to perform consistently at Bournemouth.
