Key Highlights
- After an unforgettable 2025 that broke new ground for the south London club as they won their first major trophy, the first few weeks of 2026 have thrust Palace into the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Dumped out of the FA Cup as holders by Macclesfield in one of the competition’s biggest shocks, there followed a double bombshell a week later that the captain Marc Guéhi was being sold to Manchester City and the manager, Oliver Glasner, would depart at the end of the season. Any Palace fans who hoped they could stay out of the spotlight as the January transfer window closed were in for a rude awakening.
- The saga over Jean-Philippe Mateta’s failed move to Milan dominated proceedings on a largely quiet deadline day, and the fallout from Palace’s decision to withdraw from a deal to sign Dwight McNeil from Everton occupied much of the discourse in the aftermath. Transfer window verdict: how every Premier League club faredRead moreThe arrival of Jørgen Strand Larsen from Wolves for a fee that could reach £48m meant Palace smashed their transfer record for the second time in a month, having signed Brennan Johnson for £35m, but there have to be doubts over paying such a price for a player who has scored one Premier League goal this season.
- Palace have been widely criticised for going back on the McNeil deal, after the winger’s partner accused them of “toying” with the player’s mental health, and did not bring in a replacement for Guéhi. Johnson has yet to find the net since joining from Tottenham but Glasner, even without McNeil, has a plethora of attacking options for the trip to face Palace’s arch-rivals, Brighton, on Sunday.
- Evann Guessand is in line to make his debut after the Côte d’Ivoire forward joined on loan from Aston Villa in a deal that could turn his move into a permanent transfer at the end of the season for £26m. Palace’s chair, Steve Parish, called out by Glasner in the summer – and several times since – for not investing in the squad before their debut European campaign, was forced to act.
- Many will agree with the Austrian manager that it was about time. Until the purchase of Strand Larsen, Palace had made a profit on transfers this season after selling Eberechi Eze to Arsenal for £67.5m in August and Guéhi to City for £20m.
