Dan Cook has been speaking on the HLTCO podcast about the ability and potential that Crystal Palace’s Jesurun Rak-Sakyi possesses.
Crystal Palace have recently been handed Category One status and also unveiled a brand new academy facility, which was officially declared open for use by one of their graduates in current England manager, Gareth Southgate.
Should Zaha leave Crystal Palace?
Yes!
No!
The Eagles have produced some top talents over the years, including Southgate, Victor Moses, Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha – as well as players currently at the early stages of their careers such as Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Tyrick Mitchell.
Someone who has been handed his Premier League debut this season is Rak-Sakyi, and there is very little surprise as to why given how well he performed for Palace’s Under-18 side last season, scoring eight goals and registering eight assists in just 16 games.
Following reports linking Palace with a potential move for Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe, Cook believes that if given a good enough pathway, Rak-Sakyi could replicate someone like Zaha – and avoid the need to recruit his fellow Ivorian.
“I look at the Category One status we have as an academy now and the rise to prominence in the last six months or so of Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.
“I would far rather we, not put all of our eggs in his basket, but look to provide a pathway for him to become the next Wilfried Zaha, rather than having to spend tens of millions of pounds to bring in Nicolas Pepe from Arsenal after he’s failed to set the world alight under Mikel Arteta’s guidance.”
TIF Thoughts on Rak-Sakyi…
It’s obvious that Palace and Patrick Vieira have high hopes for Rak-Sakyi and rate him very highly – otherwise, he would not be so close to the first team and handed minutes, so if they can manage his development well, he could be the ideal replacement to Zaha when he either departs or is no longer the player he is right now.
It would make sense for Palace to utilise their Category One academy status to develop and unearth players such as Rak-Sakyi instead of splashing outlandish amounts of money on current Premier League squad players such as Pepe, who has indeed been linked with the Eagles by French outlet Jeunes Footeux.
Therefore, you can see where Cook is coming from, though whether the club have a succession plan in place for Zaha remains to be seen.
In other news: ‘Probably rubbing his hands together’ – Dan Cook claims unused CPFC man could now get his chance