Johnson's Arrival Is a Start – But Do Palace Still Need Another Attacker @willfortune_

Welsh international Brennan Johnson has so far been Crystal Palace’s only addition to their squad in the January transfer window.

The former Nottingham Forest forward joined the club on the 2nd of January for a club record fee of £35m from Tottenham Hotspur.

Palace have been struggling through the winter period with numerous absentees including Eddie Nketiah and Daichi Kamada through injury.

Ismaila Sarr has seen himself at the African Cup of Nations with Senegal while Jean-Philippe Mateta has seen himself struggling with a knock while Romain Esse has left the club to go to Coventry on loan.

Johnson has started two of three of the Eagles’ games since the second. Away at Newcastle United and at home to Aston Villa while he was a used substitute at Macclesfield.

Perhaps lacking sharpness due to minimal starts for Thomas Frank’s Spurs, the 24-year-old showed signs of brightness in his opening games.

In the winter period Oliver Glasner has also rewarded 16-year-old Joel Drakes-Thomas and 17-year-old Benji Casey with senior debuts.

But it is likely that Drakes-Thomas and Casey will return to the academy sides to continue their development.

This means that Palace may well likely move for another forward in the remaining weeks of the window.

One name that has been mentioned, if the Eagles are to move for another forward, is Wolves’ striker Jørgen Strand Larsen as first reported by the Telegraph last month.

The Norwegian had a promising 2024/25 season at Wolves scoring 14 and assisting five in the 38 games he featured in in all competitions. Contrastingly, it has been a rather slow start to the season as he has only registered a goal and an assist in his 19 Premier League games.

Alan Nixon has also in the last weeks reported Palace’s interest in Strasbourg’s Joaquin Panichelli as a replacement for Mateta who looks set to leave after a disagreement in proposed wages in a new deal.

Panichelli has had an exceptional first half of the Ligue 1 season as he is currently the second top goalscorer in the division with ten goals in his first season in France.

Angers teenager Sidiki Cherif has also been linked with the South London side and manager Alexandre Dujeux has already revealed that he expects the Frenchman to leave.

Cherif has so far operated on the left flank as well as centrally and could well be a good rotation option for Yeremy Pino who has struggled so far to adapt to the demands of the English league.

It is paramount that Crystal Palace move for another attacker this window with a lack of goal scoring outlets in the side.

Throughout his time at Nottingham Forest and Tottenham, it has been the right side of the attack in which Johnson has predominantly been used and seen himself successful.

With Senegal yet to be knocked out of AFCON, it is expected that Johnson will continue to operate on the right of the attack with Sarr’s absence.

However, it could well be the case that Oliver Glasner tests him on the left once Sarr returns in the next one to two weeks or Sarr has to switch flank to accommodate for Johnson.

Despite Palace having dropped down the table in recent weeks, during the positive run of form the Eagles were lacking a creative spark and goal threat and this needs to change.

Only Nottingham Forest and Wolves have scored less league goals at this point in the season.

Written by William Fortune (@willfortune_ on X)