The Crystal Palace prospect was very impressive against Manchester City.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah is known for his versatility, but the prospect’s excellent performance at right-back in Crystal Palace’s goalless draw with Manchester City at the weekend provided an indication as to where he should be playing regularly.
Perhaps later in his career Fosu-Mensah will settle as a defensive midfielder, but the way in which he limited the threat of one of the Premier League’s standout performers in Leroy Sane indicated that the Dutchman can have a significant impact at right-back.
The Manchester United loanee’s spell at Palace hasn’t quite gone to plan. After initially being deployed as a centre-back during Frank De Boer’s ill-fated tenure, Fosu-Mensah then found himself in and out of the side, but he will hope that his display against City will now see him feature more prominently under Roy Hodgson.
Strong physically, impressive technically and effective at breaking up play, the 20-year-old is an exciting prospect and he will hope that he will still be able to establish himself as a star in the United first-team in due course.
At present, however, his focus is on trying to help Palace preserve their Premier League status, with the club currently 17th, just one place above the relegation zone.
It is hoped that Fosu-Mensah’s performance against City will encourage Hodgson to use him more frequently, even at the expense of Joel Ward and Martin Kelly.
Doing so would be hugely beneficial for Fosu-Mensah’s development and could also be of great use in helping Palace to stay up.
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