Crystal Palace should offload underperforming defender praised by Parish

Crystal Palace invested £64.2 million in transfers last summer to replace key departing players like Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen. Maintaining squad quality is crucial for clubs that regularly lose top talent, as they must find suitable replacements while keeping performance levels high.

Managing the wage bill effectively is also important, ensuring the highest-paid players justify their salaries with their on-field contributions. Crystal Palace’s top earner is new signing Daichi Kamada on £105,000 per week, followed by Eberechi Eze and Dean Henderson on £100,000 each.

However, one player earning £45,000 weekly has become almost forgotten at the club – Rob Holding. The defender joined Palace in 2023 for around £4 million, with chairman Steve Parish praising his “tremendous quality” at the time. Yet Holding has made just one appearance since arriving and seems to have fallen out of favor.

The 29-year-old’s versatility as both a center-back and right-back likely appealed to Roy Hodgson initially. But new manager Oliver Glasner has implemented a back three system using attacking wing-backs, which doesn’t suit Holding’s skill set. Even when defenders are unavailable, Glasner has preferred other options over Holding.

Given his high wages and lack of playing time, the sensible decision would be to sell Holding and reinvest those funds in a player better suited to Palace’s current tactical approach. His signing has not worked out as planned, and offloading him could free up resources to strengthen the squad in more useful areas.