Crystal Palace flop left the club in 2022, now he’s outscoring Eze & Mateta
Over the years, Crystal Palace have been blessed with numerous attacking talents who have captured the hearts of the fanbase.
Wilfried Zaha will be the name that stands out to the younger generation, making a combined 448 appearances for the Eagles over various spells at the club, scoring 93 goals in the process.
Striker Andy Johnson is another example of a player who was a roaring success at Selhurst Park, making 140 appearances over a four-year stint, scoring 74 goals – featuring for the club in the first and second tier of English football.
They are currently blessed with a crop of talented attackers, with two of Oliver Glasner’s current forward options impressive massively in the league over the last 12 months.
Mateta & Eze’s stats in the 2023/24 campaign
Striker Jean-Philippe Mateta was never seen as a prolific goalscoring option during his early days as a Crystal Palace player.
The Frenchman only managed a total of ten goals in his first 67 appearances for the Eagles, but the arrival of Glasner last season saw a huge increase in his output in the final third.
The 27-year-old has registered 21 goals in his last 43 appearances, which included 16 in the Premier League, allowing the club to register a top-half finish.Mateta’s goalscoring exploits were undoubtedly helped by the quality of Eberechi Eze behind, with the talent enjoying one of the best seasons of his professional career last campaign.The 26-year-old registered 17 goal contributions in 2023/24, the second most of any player behind Mateta, with his good form not going unnoticed over the summer.
Eze received a call-up to the England national side for Euro 2024, cementing his place as a regular in the setup with another all-up during the recent international break.
However, despite their recent goalscoring exploits for Palace, they’ve both been outscored by one player who previously failed to impress during his time at Selhurst Park.
The player who outscored Mateta & Eze since leaving
Striker Christian Benteke arrived at Palace with huge potential to be a success after his previous spells at Aston Villa and Liverpool.
The Belgian moved to South London in a £27m deal from the Merseyside outfit, a club-record deal at the time, but unfortunately for him and the supporters – the move never lived up to expectations.
Benteke registered 37 goals in 177 appearances – an average of one goal every 4.8 matches – but ultimately wasn’t worth the big-money fee spent to bring him to the club.
