No matter how many more eye-catching transfers Crystal Palace make between now and the start of September, keeping Dougie Freedman at Selhurst Park could be the biggest coup of The Eagles’ summer.
And, yes, we include the mouth-watering addition of Daichi Kamada – Oliver Glasner’s former 16-goal-a-season Eintracht Frankfurt favourite leaving Lazio in controversial circumstances – in that.
Freedman remains at Selhurst Park despite catching the eye of Manchester United and Newcastle. An almighty sigh of relief emanated out of South London when it became apparent that he would be staying on for the forseeable future.
The Scot was not only a fans’ favourite as a Palace player, he has developed into one of the finest talentspotters in British football since returning to his old stomping ground as the director of football.
It was he who brought in Michael Olise from Reading; Palace making a cool £42 million profit when the Frenchman secured his move to Bayern Munich. Freedman was also the brains behind the deals to sign Ebere Eze from Queens Park Rangers, Adam Wharton from Blackburn Rovers, and Marc Guehi after a superb loan spell at Swansea City.
Crystal Palace continue to target Championship talent
It will come as little surprise, then, to learn that Palace have identified three Championship mavericks as potential Olise replacements.
HITC understands that there is interest in Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto, Sunderland’s Jack Clarke, and Hull City’s Jaden Philogene even if Ipswich Town are now the ‘favourites’, to quote Tigers owner Acun Ilicali.
Not even a talentspotter as renowned as Freedman gets his man every time.
As Philogene seemingly heads towards East Anglia, another of the Palace chief’s EFL-based targets appears set to stay put too.
Fabrizio Romano reports on X that, despite ‘weeks’ of pressure from Crystal Palace, Jobe Bellingham is likely to comitt his immediate future to Sunderland for at least another year.
For Regis Le Bris, the manager who ended Sunderland’s long wait for a permanent head coach recently, Bellingham’s stance represents a solid start to life on Wearside.
“I have a clear idea of where I want to him (Bellingham) to play,” Le Bris, the former FC Lorient coach, tells the Northern Echo. “But I need to talk with him about it before I say anything else.
“I am looking forward to working with him, I think he can be a great player.”
Sunderland boss delighted with Jobe Bellingham stance
According to The Guardian’s Ed Aarons, Sunderland would only have considered selling Bellingham if they had received an offer in the region of £20 million.
The younger brother of Real Madrid superstar Jude set the Black Cats back £3 million when joining from Birmingham City in the summer of 2023. And, while comparisons with one of the finest footballers on the planet have obviously placed plenty of pressure on the 18-year-old’s shoulders, he appears to be coping with those expectations pretty impressively.
Bellingham featured in 45 league games for Sunderland last term, scoring seven goals.
“It is difficult with two brothers, for the younger to build themselves, I think,” Le Bris adds. “They are different. I need to have many experiences with Jobe before saying anything because he is very talented, obviously, but he is also very young.
“I don’t know how many (first-team) games he has had – maybe 50 or 60 – and that is really a huge experience for his age. I think he is ambitious and he wants to improve.
“It could be very interesting for him to understand how his brother performs right now, but he also has to find his own way.”
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