Crystal Palace must sell a flop who Parish said had “tremendous quality”

Crystal Palace spent €77.70m (£64.2m) in the 2024/25 summer transfer window, looking to replace key figures leaving the club, such as Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen.

Squad building is key to sustaining the quality, especially when you are a club susceptible to losing your best players, being forced to replace them and being expected to remain at the same level of quality.

Controlling the wage bill is a big part of this, aiming to ensure your highest earners are proving their worth, justifying the financial resources being allocated to them.

Crystal Palace highest earners

The highest earner at the club joined on a free this summer, Daichi Kamada, The Japanese playmaker – who arrived from Eintracht Frankfurt – has made 15 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring two goals, providing two assists and totalling 883 minutes played.

Oliver Glasner’s side have two other players earning £100k-per-week, both of whom are considered key to the side, with Eberechi Eze being the star man, and Dean Henderson the number one between the sticks.

One man not in the top ten earners, but still earning a considerable £45k-per-week, is Rob Holding, who has become something of a forgotten man for the club despite being paid more than Daniel Munoz, Tyrick Mitchell and Adam Wharton.

Why Rob Holding must be sold

Holding joined the Eagles in 2023 for around £4m, with his capture met with enthusiasm at the time by chairman, Steve Parish, who notably lauded the defender’s “tremendous quality”:

The 29-year-old – who previously made 162 appearances for Arsenal, scoring five goals – has now only managed to make one appearance since joining the club, however, amid reports that he has been somewhat frozen out following a dispute regarding a post-match running session during his last first-team involvement back in August, as per BBC Sport.

His ability to play as both a central defender and right-back was likely a big factor as to why Roy Hodgson acquired him at the time, but since then, Glasner has taken over, and established a three at the back system, using attacking wingbacks.

With Maxcence Lacroix, Marc Guehi and Trevoh Chalobah now making up the three central defenders, Holding has seen no action under Glasner. Even when one of those three hasn’t been available, Glasner has shown he prefers the attributes of Nathaniel Clyne as a wide centre-back or even Jefferson Lerma dropping into the backline, ahead of Holding.

Then in the wing-back department, Holding, whilst he can play as a nominal right full-back, would not have the ground-covering ability and attacking quality required to play as a wingback, who Glasner asks to hold width in attacking scenarios, as well as track back to form a back five in defensive scenarios.

With the wages Holding is on, and the fact he isn’t even making match-day squads for Glasner’s side, the obvious choice would be to sell him on, and look to reinvest that money he is earning on a more suitable profile for Palace’s style of play.