Alex Stewart discussed Crystal Palace and the areas in which he feels that they should consider strengthening this summer during a recent edition of Tifo Football’s Sensible Transfers show.
One of the areas the football writer identified as a position in which the club should be looking to upgrade was at centre-forward. Jordan Ayew was the club’s top goalscorer last season, scoring nine in 39 appearances in all competitions (as per Transfermarkt).
Wilfried Zaha was the Eagles’ second top goalscorer with just four and Christian Benteke only managed to register on two occasions (as per Transfermarkt). Therefore, it can certainly be argued that Roy Hodgson’s side needs to add more firepower to their current squad.
Stewart identified the French centre-forward Adrien Hunou as somebody that the club, in his view, should target. Here is what he had to say:
“Adrien Hunou, who is at Rennes, who is the sort of striker who really doesn’t need many, many opportunities to score a goal. He’s incredibly efficient, [has] quite a low shot volume, but a very high proportion of those shots, not only are on target, but result in a goal.
“[He is] probably valued at about £5 million, he’d cost more, obviously, but the thing I like most about him is that he can play on either flank as well. [He] rushes forwards as part of a counter-attack but manages to get himself in a position to shoot-sort of striker, so he would work well with Palace’s, sit-deep counter-attacking style.”
Would you like to see the club bring in another striker this summer?
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Hunou has made a total of 136 appearances for Stade Rennais contributing 32 goals and five assists. Although his average performance rating in Ligue 1 last season was an underwhelming 6.64/10 (via WhoScored), Stewart has described him as ‘extremely efficient’ and on that basis, you could argue he would be a good fit for Crystal Palace.
The player’s transfer value is said to be £4.95m (as per Transfermarkt) at present, meaning he could be available at a reasonable price should the South London club decide to make their move for the 26-year-old.