Crystal Palace, who have long been on the search for a replacement for Roy Hodgson seems to have found their man in Lucien Favre.
Favre left Borussia Dortmund in December 2020 and has since been out of a job but according to ‘The Daily Mail’, the Swiss is ‘close‘ to accepting an offer from the Eagles.
An ambitious move:
For the past decade or so, Crystal Palace have appointed British coaches to the job, and more often than not, it has not worked out well for them. While there is a certain ceiling when you appoint managers who have little to no calibre of competing amongst the big boys, they do help you stay up in the Premier League.
However, Palace have now made a place for themselves in the league and have the ambition of fighting for a place in Europe from next season. While Roy Hodgson could not have guaranteed them that, Palace knew that a foreign manager of proven quality can certainly do so, as it did so for some of the other clubs who are not part of the traditional top 6, namely Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City, Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves, and Ronald Koeman at Southampton.
Thus, Palace have taken their time to weed out the best manager who they believe can take the club forward and bring about a new ideology at the club. In steps Lucien Favre, who delivered some of the best attractive football in the Bundesliga for the last three years.
While the Swiss was previously successful at Nice and Borussia Monchengladbach, he hit his managerial peak at the Signal Iduna Park. A little experience coupled with a glorious influx of youth let Favre run his methods efficiently, which helped Dortmund finish 2nd twice in his two seasons at the club. He was famous for developing Jadon Sancho into the player he is today, while he was also the man who convinced the likes of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, and Giovanni Reyna to join the club.
His 4-2-3-1 formation coupled with his swift attacking methods will be a great fit at Palace, who are bracing themselves for a mass exodus with up to 7 players leaving the club on the expiry of their contract this summer. However, Favre’s main problem would be to convince Wilfried Zaha to stay at the club as the winger has been the main man for the Eagles for the last 5 years. Additionally, Palace are also ready to splash the money in the transfer market, and Favre’s eye for excellent transfers will certainly be very useful to lure some of Europe’s best talent to the club.
Competition from Everton:
While reports have confirmed that Lucien Favre is close to signing a contract with Crystal Palace, the Eagles do face stiff competition from Everton, who have also been on the lookout for a manager since Carlo Ancelotti left the club earlier this month.
However, with Everton also considering Rafa Benitez for the role, Favre might choose to go to the club that have their sole focus on him.
These are exciting times for Crystal Palace, and should Lucien Favre join the club, Selhurst Park could become the home to some of the most entertaining football next year.
