Journalist Tom Barclay admits that he was shocked when Patrick Vieira gave Tayo Adaramola his debut in Crystal Palace’s recent FA Cup win.
Adaramola moved to Essex from Dublin to chase his career dreams in 2014, and signed his first professional contract with the Eagles in 2020, according to the Crystal Palace website.
The 18-year-old is a left-back who has featured 11 times for Palace in the PL2 and registered one goal and one assist, according to Transfermarkt.
Barclay gave his views to GiveMeSport and described the start for Adaramola as a “surprise”.
He said: “It was a bit of a surprise. I’ve only really been learning about him since then this morning.”
TIF Thoughts on the comments from Tom Barclay…
Adaramola had a solid full debut for Palace, he was described in the Evening Standard as: “Confident on the ball and was positive in possession. Struggled a bit positionally but a fine full debut.”
Tyrick Mitchell has been the mainstay at left-back for Palace this season. He has started all of Palace’s 27 Premier League games so far this season, so it will be hard for Adaramola to get himself in the starting XI.
If Adaramola would have played in another position where a player hasn’t occupied the spot for the whole season, this positive display in the FA Cup may have given him more of a chance at a start in the league.
In this case, even though it will be hard for Vieira to take out Mitchell from the starting XI, it could give the French manager something to think about moving forward, and if Mitchell is under-performing, he now knows he has a competent, young left-back ready to take his chance.