According to The Mirror, via HITC, Crystal Palace are set to fight off interest from West Ham and Brighton and Hove Albion to secure the signature of Fyodor Chalov.
A bidding war could be incoming, with all three of these Premier League clubs hoping they can bring the Russian forward to their camp from CSKA Moscow. But why exactly are the Eagles so eager to bring Chalov to Selhurst Park?
Would you sign Chalov for Crystal Palace?
Yes
No
TIF Tactics – Who is Fyodor Chalov?
At the age of just 21, Chalov is certainly a player that these clubs will be hoping can make an impact for years to come. In 22 Premier Liga games this season, the forward has scored five goals and assisted five more. This isn’t an unflattering statistic by any means.
However, with an xG (expected goals) of 0.45 per 90 minutes on average, the Russia international forward has only managed to score 0.26 times every 90 minutes on average. He is clearly not as clinical as one might hope a Premier League striker might be. He averages 2.42 shots per 90 minutes, however, only 35.6% of his shots hit the target.
Regarding chance creation, Chalov also underachieves regarding xA (expected assists). The striker has an average xA of 0.15 per 90 minutes but has only achieved an assist ratio of 0.12 per 90 minutes on average.
However, Crystal Palace has just one player who has scored more than five goals this season and just one player who has matched five assists. Christian Benteke has just one goal and one assist in 21 appearances.
While Chalov clearly has a lot of room to grow, Crystal Palace are crying out for a forward who can provide goals and assists at an equal rate. Perhaps the signing of the player would help provide some much-needed dynamism to the Palace front line.
But, with a transfer value of £14.4 million as of December 23, 2019, and interest shown from multiple English Premier League teams, Chalov’s signature won’t be a cheap one.
(uncredited data and stats from Wyscout.com, accurate at the time of writing)