Merson urges Palace to sign Defoe rather than Tammy Abraham in January

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Paul Merson has offered his thoughts on Crystal Palace being interested in Aston Villa’s Tammy Abraham.

Paul Merson has emphatically stated that goal-shy Crystal Palace should sign Bournemouth’s Jermain Defoe in January, and not Aston Villa’s Tammy Abraham.

The Telegraph recently reported that 21-year-old Abraham, who is on loan at Villa Park from Chelsea, is a potential target for the Premier League club when the transfer window re-opens next month.

Abraham has been in sparkling form in the Championship for Villa this season, scoring 11 goals in 15 games for the promotion-chasing side.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror claims that (December 16, page 65) Defoe is another forward Palace could sign next month as Roy Hodgson’s side aim to add more firepower up front.

Former Arsenal man Merson compared both targets to what Palace currently have at their disposal, as he made it clear who the London club should sign.

“They (Defoe and Abraham) are better than what they have,” Merson told Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday on 15/12/2018 at 2:30pm.

“I would probably go the Defoe route more than the Abraham route. They (Palace) need to score goals, he (Defoe) is a goalscorer. Defoe is proven. You need him for this season.

“Abraham, I think as the years go on will get better and better. But, you don’t want to get someone who is going to take a while to get used to the Premier League. He didn’t really score a lot of goals for Swansea when they were in the Premier League.”

Abraham found the back of the net on only five occasions for Swansea during the previous campaign as they suffered relegation from the Premier League.

Defoe hasn’t started a league game for the Cherries this term, but he does have 163 goals to his name in the top flight.

Palace, who recorded a much-needed 1-0 victory on home soil against Leicester City over the weekend, have only scored 14 goals from their 17 matches this term.

Attacking quartet Christian Benteke, Alexander Sorloth, Jordan Ayew and Conor Wickham have all struggled with form and injuries as they have relied heavily upon Wilfred Zaha.