According to Manchester Evening News, a number of scouts from some of the top clubs across Europe – including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Crystal Palace – have been keeping a close eye on Swiss centre-forward Haris Seferovic.
Seferovic began his senior career with Swiss club Grasshopper and played for Fiorentina and Real Sociedad, before moving to the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt. He rose to prominence with his goalscoring prowess and joined Portuguese giants Benfica in 2017.
With 6 goals from 25 appearances in the league so far, the 26-year-old has enjoyed decent success at the international arena as well, scoring 13 goals from 55 appearances for Switzerland.
As things stand, Crystal Palace are in need of an out-and-out centre-forward to solve their goalscoring woes. To be honest, the Eagles have performed far below expectations and Roy Hodgson’s men have only scored 5 goals from their first 8 games in the Premier League. They currently sit 14th in the standings and must improve significantly to finish in the top ten.
The Eagles have found goals hard to come by and have one of the poorest scoring records in the Premier League. Much of their woes this season have been down to the failures of Christian Benteke and Andros Townsend.
With the kind of experience they have, they should have worked wonders spearheading the attack alongside Wilfried Zaha. However, they haven’t stepped their game up to the desired level.
In fact, Benteke has been horrible in front of the goal. He has looked too frustrated at times and has smashed the ball high and wide from promising positions.
Jordan Ayew has put in the hard yards but hasn’t been able to spark that moment of magic in the final third while Alexander Sorloth, who has come on as a substitute on seven occasions, hasn’t looked too bright either.
Suffice to say, Crystal Palace need a proper No.9 to act as cover and provide competition for the likes of Christian Benteke and Jordan Ayew. And Benfica’s Haris Seferovic would be an ideal choice for that purpose.
The 26-year-old Swiss international is physical enough to outmuscle the opposition with his strength. At the same time, he also has the ability to shield the ball from the opposition with his towering 6ft 1in frame. His presence of mind allows him to get in behind the defenders with subtle runs and he has the knack of getting into good scoring positions inside the box.
He often uses his instincts to get on the end of crosses and is quite adept at finishing with his head. To go with his strength, awareness and positioning, Seferovic also has a good left foot and uses it to fire powerful long-range efforts.
He is also great at dropping deep and carrying the ball forward with pace to initiate counter-attacks and excels with his hold-up play in the final third.
Seferovic isn’t particularly agile or quick with his feet and does have too many tricks up his sleeve. However, his assets should outweigh his liabilities as a defender. That said, Crystal Palace should make a bid for him in January as he is likely to help them achieve a better goalscoring record in the coming days.