Crystal Palace’s seemingly annual fight against relegation was boosted on deadline day with the signing of defender Mamadou Sakho from Liverpool for a reported £26 million.
The 27-year-old centre-back penned a four-year contract to return to the club where he spent a successful loan spell during the second half of last season.
Initially signed by Frank de Boer, Sakho will now ply his trade under Roy Hodgson after the Dutchman’s ill-fated reign lasted just four league matches before he was given the sack.
After stepping up his fitness with appearances for the reserves, the big-money buy’s first outing for the senior side also coincided with their maiden clean sheet of the campaign in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town.
His new manager was suitably impressed with Sakho’s impact ahead of a testing trip to Manchester City:
“He was excellent. Really good considering it was his first game of the season. We were worried about his level of fitness to play 90 minutes against a Premier League team. We were surprised he lasted as long as he did and he probably could have lasted longer.
It was not Mamadou who was desperate to come off and he was not cramping up or slowing down. We did not want to take a further chance.
Will he be ready for Saturday? I think he will, yes. He will certainly be in contention because he is a quality centre-back, there is no doubt about that.”
The History
Born in Paris, Sakho linked up with Paris Saint-Germain’s academy at the age of 12 and made his professional debut for the club in September 2007.
Established as a regular starter during the 2008/09 campaign, he was a mainstay in central defence over the rest of his time at the club, producing seven goals and two assists in 200 appearances in all competitions.
In September 2013, Sakho joined Liverpool in a deal worth £18 million.
He made 17 league starts that season and was generally a first-choice option, when fit, as the Reds narrowly missed out to Manchester City for the Premier League title.
But injuries and a doping ban meant Sakho’s Anfield career stalled badly, while a fractious relationship with Jurgen Klopp meant he was never likely to succeed on Merseyside.
Sent out on loan to Palace last season, he immediately became a pivotal figure in their successful battle against the drop.
Indeed, four of the Eagles’ seven clean sheets for the season arrived in the eight matches that the Frenchman started.
Put into perspective, they managed a meagre two clean sheets in 25 matches before his arrival. Only Manchester United and Spurs – the top two defences for clean sheets in 2016/17 – kept more shutouts during Sakho’s spell in the side.
Capped by France at all age levels from U16s to U21s, making 34 appearances in total, Sakho made his senior debut in a 2-1 friendly victory over England in November 2010.
He has scored two goals in 28 matches for the national team, although he hasn’t featured for Les Blues since March 2016.
The Prospects
Sitting bottom of the table with no points, no goals and no clean sheets ahead of clashes with both Manchester clubs and Chelsea in the next three Gameweeks, Palace players are far from Fantasy managers’ radars right now.
After De Boer’s disastrous experiment with a three-man defence, there was no surprise to see Hodgson install four at the back for his first match in charge against Southampton last weekend, fielding Scott Dann and Timothy Fosu-Mensah at centre-half.
The Eagles’ manager continued with the same set-up against Huddersfield in midweek, with Sakho partnered by James Tomkins.
When fully fit, Sakho looks assured of a starting berth at Selhurst Park, with Dann, Tomkins and Fosu-Mensah, along with another new arrival, Jairo Riedewald, vying for the spot alongside the Frenchman.
However, both Fosu-Mensah and Riedewald are versatile enough to offer alternatives at full-back and even in holding midfield roles, with the former, in particular, expected to continue in the starting line-up.
Assessing the Palace rearguard after the opening five rounds of fixtures, Fosu-Mensah is their number one defender in the Bonus Points System with a score of 76 edging him six clear of Dann’s 70.
At 4.5, the on-loan Man United is likely to be the cheapest Palace defender on offer, yet Dann’s goal threat is another factor that could influence Hodgson’s (and our) thinking – he is second only to Burnley’s Ben Mee for efforts in the box (six to seven) among FPL defenders.
Both Dann and Sakho are identically priced in FPL at 4.9 apiece but with 10 goals and seven assists over the last three seasons, the former could be our preferred Palace defender if Hodgson’s no frills tactical approach boosts their resilience.
Yet with a trip to Spurs on their agenda in the next six rounds of fixtures, it seems that the best time to target Palace’s standout performers will be from Gameweek 13 onwards.
This will afford us time to analyse the manager’s preferred regulars ahead of a run of matches (STO bha wba BOU WAT lei swa) that could prove essential to their latest survival battle.
