Presenter Dan Cook has admitted he has been surprised by manager Patrick Vieira’s inability to make things work with Jairo Riedewald at Crystal Palace.
In a recent article for The Athletic, the player’s future was up for much debate with the consensus being that he is not in the club’s plans for now or the future and that the Eagles have ‘have moved on from him’.
As result, there will be a strong expectation for him to leave at the next possible opportunity, especially with his contract at Palace set to expire in 2024.
While talking about the player on the HLTCO Patreon podcast, Cook explained that it was ‘strange’ how things have turned out as he expected Vieira to get more out of the former Ajax man.
Indeed, he said (1:25): “His immediate future is still the subject of a fair bit of speculation. It’s quite clear that ever since really Patrick Vieira arrived at the football club, the two of them have not been on the same page.
“It’s slightly strange to me because I think you can look towards Jairo’s Riedewald schooling within the Ajax academy and his ability to look after the ball and suggest that he should be the sort of player that Patrick Vieira quite likes.
“But that hasn’t come to pass and he is struggling hugely to involve himself in first team activities from week to week.”
Will Jairo Riedewald be at Crystal Palace by the start of next season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Jairo Riedewald and Crystal Palace…
Of course, Riedewald was not a Vieira signing. In fact, he was brought in by former Ajax manager Frank de Boer back in 2017 for a reported fee of £8m.
But De Boer didn’t last long, being sacked after just five games in charge, and things haven’t gone well for his signing either. Indeed, the Dutchman has struggled to ever truly nail down a regular starting role at Palace and has yet to play in the Premier League this season.
Vieira has done well to rejuvenate and inspire a number of talented players within the Eagles’ squad, but evidently, this hasn’t happened for Riedewald.
Considering the player’s footballing education at Ajax, big things may have been expected of him but it looks as though his time at Palace will fizzle out without ever truly sparking into life.