Mamadou Sakho of Crystal Palace reacts during a Premier League encounter. (Getty Images)
According to Football.London, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has admitted his interest in Crystal Palace defender Mamadou Sakho.
The 30-year-old centre-back has made just 8 league appearances this season, with injuries and suspension limiting the Frenchman’s appearance.
Sakho first arrived at Crystal Palace on loan from rivals Liverpool, making 8 league appearances that season before being ruled out for the season due to a ligament injury. Nevertheless, Palace signed him permanently the following summer for a sum of around £25million.
Since then, Sakho has played a total of 63 matches for the Eagles across all competitions. However, the French defender has failed to establish himself as a regular in the side all these years, majorly due to the various injuries he has sustained in the past couple of years.
A first-choice centre-back when fit, Sakho played his maximum games last season for Roy Hodgson’s side. He made 27 appearances in the Premier League.
Unfortunately, he was once again hampered by another injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season.
It has been the same this year also for Sakho, who lost his place to fellow veterans and centre-backs Gary Cahill and James Tomkins earlier this season. Sakho, however, made a return to the first-team but luck seems to have not favoured the seasoned defender as he was once again ruled out due to a thigh injury.
The veteran defender is currently out of the side and is recovering from the injury he sustained in January. That said, Sakho seems surplus to requirements at Selhurst Park having spent most of his time there warming the benches.
Also, Palace already have five centre-backs in their side, three of whom are already past their thirties. Despite Sakho’s unavailability for the major part of this season, Hodgson’s Palace have the best defensive record among the bottom ten teams in the league.
They have conceded just 32 goals from their overall 29 games in the Premier League, indicating that the team can perform well enough without his presence. With the side already filled with ageing players, letting Sakho go amidst interest from Lyon will not hurt them bad next season. Rather, they could sell him and use that money to invest in some young faces with an eye on the future.
Crystal Palace will save themselves some money and time by selling Sakho, who has been hampered by injuries for most of his time at Selhurst Park. With the side already having enough back-up in their defence, letting go of one of their old guards will only serve them well. Hence, they should go ahead with Lyon’s interest in Sakho and offload him soon.
