Unconvincing win over Stockport showed why Crystal Palace want Romain Esse

Crystal Palace are looking for a young, talented attacker from south London who came through the academy to help them. Sounds exciting, right? Exactly what the fans want to see, what the club has sought to produce ever since they moved their youth set-up to Category 1 status.

Except it’s a few kilometers up the road where Romain Esse has emerged as a serious prospect. The 19-year-old has impressed in the Championship with local rivals Millwall, from whose academy he graduated. After 65 appearances since his debut in December 2022, Esse is being pursued by Palace. A deal is likely, but not yet finalized.

Had it already been secured, Sunday’s 1-0 win against League One side Stockport County in the third round of the FA Cup was the type of game Esse could have been involved in. Palace manager Oliver Glasner fielded his strongest team, but it was one. affected by illness, with several players missing part of the week’s training as a result.

The question is: why don’t Palace bring their own players through as Aces? Admittedly, one of the few benefits of Championship football is testing young players earlier and more frequently; sometimes it is a necessity. Palace themselves have sent their best young attacking prospect Jesurun Rak-Sakyi on loan to the division.

At 22, he is two-and-a-half years older than Esse, with just 16 more professional appearances, and he has become unsettled at Palace due to his lack of opportunities and failure to loan him out last season.

He has played at least 22 times on loan in the Championship with Sheffield United this season. Chelsea’s sale of Omari Hutchinson to Ipswich Town for around £20 million ($24 million) may have set a benchmark for Rak-Sakyi’s potential value. That’s a little more than Palace would pay for Esse. The pair are similar in style and ability.

Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is on loan at Sheffield United (Ed Sykes/Getty Images)

However, Palace’s bench against Stockport was tellingly out of options in the no. 10 position to move ahead of Justin Devenny (pictured above). The 21-year-old is considered to have an outside chance of making it as a regular first-team player at Palace if all goes well, but he is a completely different profile to Rak-Sakyi or Esse. Jean-Philippe Mateta could have gone ahead and Eddie Nketiah moved back, but that would put him in a position where he has yet to find any form.

Palace would have benefited from someone with something to prove. They played against a low blocking and disciplined side that did well in League One but lacked the intensity that Glasner has demanded of them. Esse would give them that, even if he can flicker in and out of games in the Championship. If he can find consistency in games, he will be an excellent option.

Glasner has repeatedly spoken about the need to sign players early, and it’s obvious they need time to integrate into his system. There should be no pretense that if the deal does go through, despite the manager liking Esse, he would play regularly or be expected to make a significant immediate impact.

But there are reasons why Palace are pursuing the England youth international. He meets the criteria of their recruitment strategy. He is similar in style to both Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise, both of whom were early arrivals under the changed strategy of targeting up-and-coming talents from the Championship, developing them and in theory at least selling them for a profit once they have achieved much in the south London.

Palace target Romain Esse (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

He’s unlikely to displace Ismaila Sarr at any point or put too much pressure in his place, but he’s seen as a long-term prospect who can contribute.

Eze arrived at Palace as a more polished player, making 134 appearances and playing almost two full Championship seasons for Queens Park Rangers. He was 22, considerably older. A year later, Olise came from Reading with 73 senior games in 19 years, although he had played almost a whole season in the second division. Ese is on course for that milestone having missed just two games this campaign.

He has already found success in south London after thriving in a struggling Millwall side. His movement is more akin to Eze, but he has good touch, craft and guile and is an enterprising player whose work rate is not in doubt.

The decision-making isn’t always there, although he can produce a special moment, and he still requires physical development, being less skilled than either Eze or Olise were at that stage of their careers, but the technical qualities are eye-catching.

He is capable of playing inside on the right or left, but when he is at his best coming in from the right, he often drives into the no. The 10 position even in a team that plays with wingers instead of more inside forwards like Palace. Learning Glasner’s system would therefore be less taxing than it would otherwise be.

His athleticism and determination are both big positives that would appeal to Glasner.

It’s clear to see how Esse would bring something different to Palace, and their pursuit of him is more understandable in the context of Rak-Sakyi’s uncertain future. There must be a continuing frustration that it is not a player from their own youth set-up who could move up.

Their win over Stockport was unconvincing and only served to demonstrate the need for cover and competition in attack. Esse seems to fit the bill.

(Top photo: Justin Devenny; by Warren Little via Getty Images)