Pre-Season and New Signings
Pre-Season
CP Baltimore 2-4 Palace
Bradford 0-1 Palace
Bromley 1-3 Palace
Hull 1-4 Palace
Portadown 0-8 Palace
A bit of a slow start for the Eagles but the team seemed to play well, squad showing good depth which hopefully can lead to a push for Europe this season. Some goos attacking play but the team will need a month or two the gell. The overall squad looks good for the future.
Transfers
1st the outgoings. Only one player has left besides Tshabalala mentioned before, it was Jose Goncalves who has joined Almeria for £1.6million. Four of the young Eagles have left to go on loan, Tom Adeyemi has returned to feeder club Bradford, Wilfried Zaha will spent the season at Burnley, Sean Scannell has joined Reading and lastly Liam Palmer will be playing for Ipswich.
Now to the new signings…. (besides Witsel and Turan)
Aron Gunnarsson – Free
Aron has joined for free after being let go from Leicester City. The Iceland international is a good all-rounder and will look to fight for a spot in the center of midfield. At 22 years old he is still young and hopefully can improve while making and impact in his debut season in the Premiership.
Wes Brown – Free
Wes now 32 years old is a vastly experienced player with two Champions League medals, one FA Cup medal, two League Cup medals and five Premiership medals. He will be looking to push for a first team spot be may find himself used as backup.
Nelson Rivas – Free
A former Inter Milan player the 29 year old should be at the peak of his career. After Breno’s work permit was turned down Casey set his sights on Rivas, the speedy Colombian can play across the defence and will surely get his fair share of games.
David Bentley –Free
When David was released from Tottenham there was a number of clubs chasing but Palace managed to land the 7 time cap English winger. His career has halted a bit but his ability still remains, at 27 his best years could be a Selhurst Park all he needs is belief in him to shine.
Matt James – Free
James played under Casey in the Championship in Casey’s managerial debut season, when he saw Matt released from United he knew straight away he wanted to sign the 21 year old. Matt has the ability he may not get much game time this season but I expect big things from him in the future.
Royston Drenthe – Free
Another player highly sought after when released this summer. Drenthe has been a bit of a waste of talent so far in his career but Casey wants to put this in order and get the best from the gifted Dutchman. Royston could be deployed on the left wing or the Left wingback position if needed.
Sotris Ninis - £2.3millon
A bargain buy for Palace as the tricky joins from Panathinaikos, the Greek winger will hav a lot of competition this season compare to his days at his old club. At 22 again a young signing stating Palace are looking to the future.
Leandro Damiao - £7.25millon
After last season’s amount of missed chances Casey wanted to bring in a striker but only one, he chose to bring this Brazilian from Internacional for a new record fee. The 6’2” striker who is 23 will have high expectation put on him, Leandro did impress in pre-season already though in his one game played, scoring a hat trick while setting up two. Looks to be a good all-rounder but the competition from Dembele, Delfouneso and Owen will be fierce.