Crystal Palace are the latest in a long line of clubs who thrive on selling players, only to see the well run dry and that is not the fault of Pierre Sage.

The buy-low, sell-high model is perhaps the one way clubs who do not generate hundreds of millions of pounds in income on a yearly basis can keep rejuvenating their squad to compete in the Premier League, and Palace were a fine example of it.

Still, in lieu of the advanced algorithms clubs like Brentford, Brighton and to a lesser extent Bournemouth use to identify talents from all around the world, the likes of Palace have relied on talent spotters to maintain their player trading model.  

Dougie Freedman’s exit has seriously impacted Palace’s recruitment

Former Palace striker Dougie Freedman was able to do that, plucking relatively obscure talents out of the EFL before selling them on at a major profit. 

Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise are the two headline examples, of course. Palace did not make a huge profit on Marc Guehi but they did bank at least something along with, you know, the small matter of winning trophies with him as captain.

It is significant, though, that Palace have not signed an outfield player from the EFL since Freedman left the club in March 2025. Not plundering the EFL market isn’t a problem in itself, of course, but not having any great degree of success no matter where you shop clearly is.

Replacement Matt Hobbs has struggled since replacing Freedman, with deals for players such as Axel Disasi, Jorgen Strand Larsen, Brennan Johnson and Takehiro Tomiyasu failing to impress.

The sheer number of poor additions points to a systemic issue behind the scenes, when Palace’s recruitment used to be the driving force upon which they built their success.

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markmarston

Oh gosh poor Palace. Honestly it’s going to sound negative, but just bring in a young coach you’d be happy to build with in the Championship. That squad is terrible and will go down regardless I think

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There is something of a historical precedent here, too. Southampton generally cast their recruitment nets further afield than Palace did during their rapid rise from the Championship to the Europa League between 2013 and 2016, signing the likes of Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Dejan Lovren to name but a few.

At times during the mid-to-late 2010s, it seemed as if Saints could do no wrong in the transfer market, with all of Les Reed, Paul Mitchell and Ross Wilson overseeing market success. The magic touch, however, left those in charge of recruitment and doubts about how ambitious the owners actually were emerged. Sound familiar, Palace fans?  

Oliver Glasner saw these problems coming

Oliver Glasner hit out at Palace’s lack of ambition in the transfer market and though the Austrian perhaps had a vested interest in protecting his own reputation, it’s hard to suggest he did not have a point.

If a club lacks either the willingness or the capability to heavily invest and is no longer unearthing hidden gems in lower leagues, problems are going to arise. And that they have done.

None of Palace’s signings over the last two summers have particularly impressed, and the core of the team that saw them lift trophies at a genuinely surprising rate has been moved on. It might be unreasonable to expect the speed at which they were going to continue, but that isn’t to say Palace’s owners should be exempt from criticism. 

Sage the fall-guy for Palace’s problems

Sage is widely expected to be sacked after a dreadful start to his tenure, with the Eagles sitting bottom of the Premier League table after 10 games. Again, none of this is to say that the Frenchman hasn’t played a role in this, but it’s clear that there are issues beyond his control.  

A replacement might be able to improve the team defensively, but they cannot bring players the stature of Guehi, Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix back to the club. Even when the January transfer window does open, so little about Palace’s recruitment policy over the last few seasons suggests that is going to happen.  

The Sage experiment has not worked but it is only the latest in a long line of decisions made by the hierarchy at Selhurst Park to have suffered that fate.