Speaking on the latest HLTCO episode, Dan Cook spoke at length about Crystal Palace target Joachim Andersen.
It emerged last week that Palace were in talks with Olympique Lyonnais to try and broker a deal to sign Andersen, who was a standout performer for Fulham during their relegation season last time out as he achieved a 6.79 WhoScored rating – the fourth-highest at the club of players to have featured more than 10 times.
Will Patrick Vieira still be Crystal Palace's manager at the end of the season?
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It was reported earlier this summer that Lyon valued Andersen at £20 million and it could prove to be a coup for Palace considering the defender has also been linked with moves to Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United this summer.
Cook spoke about the potential deal and what it means for Palace moving forward.
“It looks as though Crystal Palace have moved to make it a permanent deal – obviously, when you look at any potential move for a player who has pedigree like Joachim Andersen, it’s always pleasing to see a permanent deal being structured rather than a loan one, in which we have to wave goodbye to him at the end of the current campaign.
“I have heard talk about a five-year contract being on the table. Hopefully, we can get him to commit to that – of course, we’ve seen Michael Olise and Marc Guehi sign deals of the same length.
“It speaks to our entire long-term strategy, really, that we’d be getting players of this higher level to commit to the club for such a long period of time, because hypothetically you could get two, three or four years out of them and still sell at a pretty high price.”
TIF Thoughts on Andersen to Palace…
Something Patrick Vieira may be attempting to implement at Palace, much like he did at New York City FC, is a passing and possession style of play, which means his defenders have to be comfortable playing out from the back – and one of Andersen’s strengths is passing, according to WhoScored.
It would appear to be a great fit should Vieira wish to replicate the style at his previous clubs at Palace, as last season, Andersen managed to rank third-highest in progressive passing yards with Fulham, and alongside Marc Guehi, the Eagles appear to have earmarked a potential centre-back pairing for the future should a move for the Dane become official.