Conor Gallagher was, in many ways, the epitome of Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace. The pretty-faced posterboy not just for their re-vamped transfer policy but also for the high-pressing, adventurous style of play Vieira introduced when replacing Roy Hodgson in the Selhurst Park dugout.
And that’s without pointing out that he also scored more Premier League goals (eight) than anyone in the Palace squad barring penalty-taker Wilfried Zaha. His replacement, then, has bigger shoes to fill than a basketball fanatic with a pair of Shaquille O’Neal’s size 23s in the closet.
And, for a while at least, it seemed that uneviable task could fall into Daniil Fomin’s lap.
“Crystal Palace are keeping a close eye on him,” Fomin’s agent Alexander Manyakov said earlier in the year.
The Russia international, he said, was Palace’s second-choice January target behind only Donny Van de Beek.
“Because they wanted proven quality, they wanted to sign a player from the Premier League. But he (Van de Beek) moved to Everton.
“And signing a Russian on the final day of the transfer window is almost impossible. Such a transfer is accompanied with a whole bunch of organisational problems; Visas, medical examinations, signing a contract, work permits…”
Who will replace Conor Gallagher at Crystal Palace?
But if Fomin was sitting by the phone waiting for Crystal Palace to come calling again, he’ll have been disappointed.
“Interest from Europe? There is no official offer. What is there to discuss?” the 25-year-old tells Sport Express this week.
Stylistically speaking, Fomin perhaps has more in common with Gallagher than any of Crystal Palace’s other midfield targets. Like the former Chelsea loanee, Fomin possesses an instinctive, almost Lampard-ian ability to pop up at the right place in the right time in and around the penalty area. He scored 12 goals and provided another five assists across 2021/22, even if an otherwise exceptional campaign was overshadowed by a missed penalty in the 99th minute of May’s Russian Cup final defeat to Moscow neighbours Spartak.
But if Fomin was target number two in January, he appears to have slipped down the pecking order over the last few months. Behind Wolves’ £20 million-rated playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White (talkSPORT) and Rangers’ Joe Aribo; Another pair of highly-talented attacking midfielders who hit double figures last season.
Manu Garcia, who played under Patrick Vieira in Manchester City’s reserves, is another option.
So spare a thought for Fomin. He doesn’t even have an impending move to the Premier League to take his mind off that cup final catastrophe.
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