This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Roy Hodgson has been speaking to the media about rumours linking Liverpool striker Rhian Brewster with a loan move to Selhurst Park.
The Crystal Palace manager spoke to Sky Sports about links to the Reds academy graduate, who has made a name for himself at youth level for the Merseysiders over the years.
Brewster has netted 20 goals in 45 games across varying age groups for the European champions, while also picking up 14 assists – the teenager has attracted the attention of Jurgen Klopp, who has handed him two Carabao Cup starts this season.
What did he say?
Hodgson said: “He’s a good player, there’s no doubt about that. The only thing that would concern me there is that I don’t know quite how many guaranteed games [he would get].
“If I was going to speak to Jurgen and he was going to talk to me about, ‘I want Rhian Brewster to go out on loan and play some matches.’ I’m not 100 per cent certain I could guarantee him that he would be the first name on the team sheet.”
Should be music to Palace fans’ ears
Hodgson is right – there is no doubting that Brewster is a good player.
However, Ruben Loftus-Cheek was also a good player.
As too was Michy Batshuayi.
Palace must stop pinning their hopes on loan stars who make the Selhurst Park faithful fall in love with them, only for the temporary stint to end with there being little chance of a permanent switch happening.
The manner in which Klopp has spoken of Brewster suggests that the German rates him highly, so again, it feels unlikely that a permanent move for the teenager would ever materialise if he performed well while on loan with the Eagles.
“Rhian is a really big talent. We’re really looking forward to seeing him in training. It will be an important role for us, we’ve planned an important role for him.”
Again, Steve Parish recently spoke of wanting to move away from a short-term approach, an ethos that Palace have definitely been guilty of in the past through their chopping and changing of managers as well as the aforementioned quick-fixes in the form of loan moves.
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“If you get the process right, then success follows. If you set short-term goals, you’ll do short-term things. I think we’ve probably been guilty of that in the past.”
Palace need to invest in assets that they can retain and sell, rather than keep relying on loanees.
In other news, the south Londoners may have to look elsewhere for a new right-back after an update in the Championship…