Where would Crystal Palace be, right now, had they hired Oliver Glasner a few months earlier?
Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that The Eagles would be flying a damn sigh higher? There is, after all, only 11 points separating them from a Newcastle United side they put away with consummate ease in midweek.
Is a run of three straight wins – beating Newcastle and Liverpool either side of a five-goal smashing of West Ham – a delayed ‘new manager bounce’? Or has Glasner, who replaced Roy Hodgson in February, finally got a club with a couple of genuine Champions League-quality players performing to the level they should have been at in the first place?
Ebere Eze and Michael Olise, in particular, are footballers many of the division’s top clubs would love to have. Let alone one still only 14th in the table despite rattling off three wins from three.
Crystal Palace duo likely to be in demand
According to BBC Sport, Palace would demand the bidding starts at £60 million should interest arise in either Eze or Olise this summer.
And ex-Aston Villa captain Gabriel Agbonlahor certainly would not be surprised to see at least three of the division’s big-hitters – Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – go head-to-head for their respective signatures.
“I think they both are (worth it),” the former England international told talkSPORT when those £60 million price-tags were put to him (26 April, 9.50am). “Crystal Palace are a mid-table team. You look at them now. 14th place, 13 points… That’s where you see them every season.
“They are really good players. Olise, I really like, Eze… If they can stay fit, they are players who will definitely be on the radar of Spurs, Manchester United, for sure, and even Arsenal could do with an Olise as help for (Bukayo) Saka.
“I rate them highly. Top players. Definitely (they could leave).”
Arguably no player in the entire Premier League has performed at a higher level than Eze in recent weeks, though Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Martin Odegaard may have something to say about that.
Have you ever seen an overhead kick smashed into the net with such force as Eze’s against West Ham at Selhurst Park?
Michael Olise is a Manchester United supporter
Olise, meanwhile, is averaging a goal or an assist every 84 minutes, although a tally of just ten starts across 2023/24 may raise concerns. This has been another campaign in which the London-born 22-year-old – reportedly a big Man United fan – has seen his involvement restricted by a troublesome hamstring injury.
Pedro Neto, a player HITC understands is on the radars of Liverpool and Arsenal amongst others, may also see a potential big-money move hit by a worrying fitness record.
HITC have also been told that, if Olise does go, Palace could move for Sunderland’s Jack Clarke or Hull City’s Jaden Philogene, having enjoyed so much success recruiting from the Championship in the past. Juventus’ England Under-21 starlet Samuel Iling-Junior is another option.