New Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has been busy in the January transfer window, bringing the likes of Yaya Sanogo, Shola Ameobi and Jordon Mutch to Selhurst Park, in addition to acquiring Wilfried Zaha on a permanent deal. The Eagles boss strengthened his defensive options by snapping up Senegal’s Pape Souare, who joins for a reported fee of £3.4m from French club Lille on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Pardew brought several players to Newcastle from Ligue 1 and believes his the 24-yeard-old Souare, who was rumoured to have attracted the interest of Arsenal, can prove to be another big success:
“He’s a full-back who’s experienced at left-back. He’s played a good level at Lille. It’s a club I know well and I’ve taken some good players out of there and hopefully he can follow in the footsteps of Mathieu Debuchy and Yohan Cabaye. We’ve sent him home this week again to get himself together and he’ll be back in on Tuesday for training and we’re looking forward to seeing him.”
The History
Souare’s career began in his home country with Diambars FC before he joined Lille in 2008. Having spent a couple of years in the reserves, he made his first-team debut in 2011 and a year later enjoyed a successful campaign as part of the Senegal Olympic team at London 2012, topping the assist charts with four, ahead of the likes of Aaron Ramsey and Neymar.
Souare spent the 2012/13 season on loan at then newly-promoted Reims, making 23 appearances. He was part of a defence which conceded just 42 goals, better than any other club outside the top eight, helping his side to a 14th-place finish.
Having impressed at Reims, Souare returned to Lille for the 2013/14 season and made 33 appearances, featuring in a multitude of positions from left-back to midfield to left-wing. Lille enjoyed a successful year, finishing third in Ligue 1, and only conceded 26 goals. Renowned for his athleticism going forward, the new Eagles left-back scored three times and created 19 goalscoring chances for his team-mates last year but did have some disciplinary issues – he was cautioned on seven occasions and dismissed once.
Souare has endured a less successful campaign this season, only making 12 appearances for a Lille side which has struggled to recapture the form of recent years. The 24-year-old defender has won five caps for his country, including two appearances in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, while he appeared in both the Champions League and Europa League during his time with the French outfit.
The Prospects
Having also been linked with Swansea’s Neil Taylor during the January transfer window, it’s clear Palace were keen to add a left-back to their squad. Joel Ward was the first choice for the majority of Tony Pulis’ and Neil Warnock’s short reigns but he’s been moved to the right under the new manager, with Martin Kelly starting all three league matches on the left of the back-four instead.
Given that both Ward and Kelly are natural right-backs, Souare looks likely to be handed the chance to immediately cement a place in the starting XI. Having averaged 2.5 interceptions per appearance this season compared to Ward’s 1.8 and Kelly’s 1.7, the stats suggest Souare’s pace and reading of the game could help improve a defence which has only kept five clean sheets this term.
Set to come in at 4.5 to 5.0 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, Souare’s upcoming fixtures are fairly mixed. Palace face Leicester, Newcastle and QPR in the next six but also square up to Arsenal, West Ham and Southampton – as their Gameweek 21 win over Spurs showed, though, they are capable of prevailing.
Whether that form brings to defensive returns is debatable, though. Palace have yet to keep a clean sheet under Pardew’s stewardship, and with a more attacking approach being favoured, faith in the Eagles’ defence is low right now. In the final third, though, the 5.6-priced Jason Puncheon’s 23 points in three appearances highlights his turnaround since the new manager rolled up and he seems a more reliable option. With the likes of Patrick van Aanholt and Hector Bellerin offering great value in the budget defender bracket, Fantasy managers may well sit back and wait to see how Souare adapts to his new surroundings before the fixtures become more favourable from Gameweek 29.
