Folarin Balogun Tipped for Crystal Palace Move

Crystal Palace have been tipped to sign Folarin Balogun this summer as his performances at the World Cup have caught the eye.

The Monaco forward has emerged as one of the most intriguing forward options at the World Cup, having led the USA into the knockout stages.

Balogun scored twice in the 4-1 win over Parguay and will now lead the line as USA play Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32.

His form at the World Cup has continued on from his form with Monaco at the end of last season, in which he ended with 13 Ligue 1 goals and five in the Champions League.

But his form really picked up from February onwards, with Balogun scoring in every single match between a 3-2 win over Pierre Sage’s Lens on February 21 and a 2-2 draw with Auxerre on April 19.

That was a run of eight consecutive matches and it is no wonder that Premier League clubs are sniffing around him.

But one club who has not really been linked to him is Palace.

And that is something that TalkSport’s European football expert Andy Brassell feels needs to change.

He said: “Folarin Balogun would be the perfect signing for Crystal Palace.

"The Conference League holders will, of course, be going into the Europa Leaguenext season, the competition that they should have been in in the first place, going back to the start of last season.

"But you feel that Palace are set to be able to do something, especially with their new coach, Pierre Sage, in that competition.

"Although with Jean-Phillipe Mateta potentially finally leaving this summer - there are plenty of teams still interested after his move to AC Milan fell through.

“They’ll need someone, Palace, to put the ball in the back of the net...and maybe Balogun can be that guy.”

As Brassell alluded to, Palace are not short on forward options, they currently have Mateta, Jorgen Strand Larsen and Eddie Nketiah in that position alone.

Assuming Pierre Sage comes into the club and plays the same 3-4-2-1 formation as Oliver Glasner did, Palace do not need as many as three strikers in the squad.

But, with Mateta facing interest from Manchester United and Barcelona and Nketiah spending the bulk of last season in the physio room and not on the pitch, that is where Sage and Steve Parish could get interested in a player like Balogun.

At 24 and having come off the back of the season he has just had, he won’t come cheap, but Palace need to invest this summer and perhaps Balogun could be a missing piece of the puzzle for the Eagles.