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Crystal Palace’s goalscoring woes appear to be the crux of their struggles in the Premier League – they sit just three points above the drop zone – so surely a clinical striker will be the priority for Roy Hodgson and co come January. However, there is one other area in the Eagles squad that could do with an upgrade and that would be provided by the signing of Hertha Berlin’s Valentino Lazaro. Maybe this signing would mean millions don’t have to be spent on a new hitman.

Tiresome Townsend

While risking the outrage of the masses of Palace fans who are still raving about his wonder-strike against Burnley, it must be said that an alternative to Andros Townsend should be brought in as soon as possible in a bid to boost the Eagles’ creative potential.

The journeyman, now playing for his 12th career club, appears to have finally settled down and found a home at Selhurst Park but his predictability in cutting in and onto his left-foot suffocates the Palace attack and makes defending against them so much easier.

While he is capable of producing a moment of brilliance, as he did against the Clarets, more times than not that same strike hits Row Z and a winger who can offer another dimension could make the difference in Palace’s bid for survival.

What can Lazaro offer?

Lazaro’s direct approach and pin-point crossing should make him an extremely attractive prospect to the big heads at Selhurst, who have surely been trying to figure out a way to get the best out of their misfiring strikers – the current solution being to leave them out entirely and play Townsend and Wilfried Zaha up top.

Christian Benteke scored 17 goals in his debut season in red and blue but has bagged just three in 35 appearances since then and is now out of action until 2019 with a knee injury – bringing in Lazaro could be just the move Hodgson needs to make to get the big Belgian firing again when he returns to fitness.

The Austrian has chalked up two goals and three assists in the Bundesliga this season – impressive when you consider that he has not been given a regular position and has been deployed all across the midfield and at right-back in his 25 appearances in all competitions.

WhoScored lists both the 22-year-old’s crossing and key passes as ‘Very Strong’ – with the latter of which being 2.1 per game – and this should make great reading for header-merchant Benteke, who would surely love to see a creator of this ilk be brought in.

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