October 30 2018

James Daly

The Crystal Palace Academy has an impressive history of developing youth players, writes Chris Wilmott.

England manager GARETH SOUTHGATE came through the ranks at the Palace Academy, captaining the club before moving on to Aston Villa and playing 57 times for England.

Other names to come through the youth set-up include Richard Shaw, Wayne Routledge, Ben Watson, Clinton Morrison and Nathaniel Clyne – but who should we be looking out for in the current crop?

In 2018, Aaron Wan-Bissaka was named as the Crystal Palace Young Player of the Year. He joined the Eagles at the age of 11 and made his full debut for Palace at right-back last season against a very good Tottenham Hotspur team.

Injuries within the squad were the reason why Wan-Bissaka was given his opportunity but he took it with both hands, producing a fantastic performance. He kept his place in the team for the following games against Manchester United and Chelsea and won the Player of the Month award for March 2018.

It was a quick rise to fame for the England Under-21 international and he has held down a regular place in the Eagles defence ever since.

Born in Croydon, Wan-Bissaka is a local lad who is carving out a great reputation for himself as one of the most exciting prospects in the league and is a player who will likely become an important figure in the full England team in the years to come.

Another fantastic product, and a player who has earned many plaudits for his performances in recent years, is Wilfried Zaha. The electric forward, who is blessed with an abundance of pace and skill, moved to London from the Ivory Coast at the age of four and joined Palace aged 12.

A recent blog post by Betway looked at various regions within Britain and how many current top sports stars grew up in each one. Zaha and Wan-Bissaka, although not featured in the piece, are two shining examples of talented players who learned their craft in the capital.

Having progressed through the Academy, Zaha made his debut for the first team in 2010 against Cardiff City. He came off the bench that day but went on to make a more meaningful impact the following season, scoring his first senior goal in August 2010 against Leicester City.

Zaha was just 17 years old at the time and already making his mark in the first team at Selhurst Park.

In 2012, Zaha was named the Player of the Year in the Football League and soon started to attract interest from some of the top teams in the Premier League. In January 2013, Zaha joined Manchester United for a fee of around £15million.

However, Zaha was at Manchester United during a difficult time for the club as David Moyes came and went as manager. In 2015, Zaha returned home to Palace and is now enjoying arguably the best football of his career so far under Roy Hodgson.

New talent coming through the ranks

There are several other exciting prospects at Selhurst Park and one of the names to look out for over the next few years is James Daly. If you were watching the match between Bournemouth and Palace towards the end of last season, you will have seen Daly’s name for the first time as an unused substitute.

Daly has been with Crystal Palace since under-14 level and plays as a striker, scoring goals throughout his youth career. He is the current captain of the Eagles’ under-18 team and has also featured for the under-23 team.

With some of the first team strikers struggling for fitness at Selhurst Park, the left-footer could get his chance over the next two years and there is nothing more exciting than seeing a young striker coming through.

Others to watch out for in the next few years include Brandon Aveiro and Luke Dreher. The former has been involved with Palace since the age of eight and has progressed through the system to the under-23 team.

He signed his first professional contract with the club in the summer of 2018 and the attacking midfielder will continue his development throughout the 2018/19 season, hoping to make his debut for the first team.

Dreher is another midfield talent who has featured for the under-23 side and has also made the substitutes bench for the first team. He has won the Player of the Year Award at under-18 level and if he can make a strong comeback from injury problems, could be involved with the first team again this season.

All of the youngsters in the squad will surely be encouraged by the swift progression made by Wan-Bissaka and will be hoping that they too will get a chance to establish themselves in the first team in the near future.