Pre-Season and Transfers 2013/2014
A very promising pre-season for the Eagles with 7 wins from 7. Three of the victories stand out, firstly the 5-1 away win against a up and coming Ranger’s side who have the likes of Fleck, McEachran and Shelvey in their squad. Next came a 2-0 victory against Serie A champions Roma, Delfouneso on fire as he gets ready to lead his side into Europe this season, and lastly topping that was an epic 5-1 thrashing at home to AC Milan which lead to Palace Boss Casey saying he feels his side will be challenging for a few trophies this season including the league.
CP Baltimore (away) 7-0
Northampton (away) 1-0
Queen of Sth (away) 9-1
Rangers (away) 5-1
Hearts (away) 6-0
Roma (home) 2-0
AC Milan (home) 5-1
The Eagles saw a few big names leave this summer, Michael Owen and Julian Speroni just to name two who left on frees. Ahmed Soukouna who had failed to impress in the premiership left to join Xerez for £1.2million, along with Ahmed two others left for Spain, both signing for Tenerife, David Bentley for £2.8million and Wes Brown for £425k. A player who was key in Palace’s successful 1st season back in the premiership but saw very little game time last season, Nigel Reo-Coker joined newly promoted Ipswich for £2.3million. Last to leave on a permanent move was Leandro Damiao, Liverpool active his minimum release fee of £7.5million and there was nothing the Eagles could do but wave goodbye to the Brazilian.
Again Casey opted to work mainly with free agents to strengthen his side with four joining on frees. Darron Gibson from Man United, Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, Ghanaian midfielder and experienced premiership midfielder Sulley Muntari and possiblely the bargain of the season Ivan Rakitic. Along with the above Casey added to English pospects Kyle Naughton from Newcastle for £3.5million and Miles Addison from Wolves for £3million.
Lastly Palace slashed out a bit, bringing in Daniel Kofi Agyei who had spent the 2011/2012 season at Selhurst and Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre for a new club record signing of £10million. With the squad strong a few players were sent out on loan to get playing time, Matt James to Portsmouth, Kyle Bartley to Bristol City, Axel Witsel to Hannover, Palmer to Scunthorpe and Adeyemi to Colchester.
Champions League Playoff draw
Crystal Palace have been drawn against Italian side Napoli in the Champions League Best Placed Playoff, Crystal Palace were always going to face a tough side due to being unseeded. The first leg will be played at Selhurst Park and the second at San Paolo in Naples. Napoli finished 3rd in Serie A last season but the Eagles will remain confident after their recent victories over Roma and AC Milan. The key men for Napoli will be the two strikers Cavani and Lavezzi, defender Granqvist and attacking midfielder Kagawa. Napoli also have some more familiar names to English fans with Ledley, Lansbury and Olsson in their squad.