According to recent reports, Leeds United are in ‘advanced talks’ to sign ‘highly-rated’ Jadan Raymond from Crystal Palace.
Reports in The Athletic state that, despite being offered a three-year deal with Crystal Palace, the 16-year-old has rejected the offer from the club, citing concerns regarding his ‘potential development at the Premier League club, with a clear route to regular first-team football desired’.
The report states that both Leeds United and Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes – the latter of which approached Palace earlier this month – have offered the player a route to their individual first teams, with the plan of ‘incorporating him within the next 18 months’.
Raymond’s current contract with the Eagles expires on 30th June, meaning that he will most likely be available to move to a new club next week.
TIF Thoughts…
The loss of Raymond is undoubtedly a disappointment for Palace, with The Athletic describing the 16-year-old as ‘a stylish box-to-box midfielder’ who is ‘comfortable on the ball’ and can ‘operate anywhere across the midfield’.
Palace have a good record of developing youth players, with current first-team player Wilfried Zaha being a more notable graduate of the club’s youth system, as well as Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who joined Manchester United last summer for a fee of £45m.
However, the report does also state that there remains a ‘small chance’ that Raymond will sign the deal that Palace have offered, something which would be an extremely good outcome for the club and, presumably, their fans.
Do you blame Jadan Raymond for wanting to leave Palace?
Yes
No
Having said this, the fact that the player did not snap the club’s arm off when they initially offered the deal shows a distinct lack of faith in the club from the player.