Roy Hodgson: Crystal Palace are laying the foundations to further reduce average age of squad

BY SAM SMITH

Roy Hodgson has said that Crystal Palace are making steps to reduce the squad’s average age, which he admits is still high despite the signing of Eberechi Eze.

During the last 18 months, the Eagles have regularly named line-ups of which the average ages are among the oldest in Premier League history.

Despite the capture of the 22-year-old Eze, the average age of the 20 players used by Hodgson this season is 28.4 – the oldest in the Premier League. Eze’s fellow summer acquisition, Nathan Ferguson, 20, will reduce that further.

The Eagles have improved their academy facilities, which now have category one status – the best in the country. Hodgson hopes that the set-up will produce players who can step into the first team.

Hodgson said: “This squad of players has aged together. They have played together, aged together and done a fantastic job. But one has to be realistic and accept that one day that’s going to catch up with us and, maybe, the fresh blood needs to be made available.

“It’s something that the chairman and the owners are very aware of, and something that Doug Freedman and I are aware of, too. We have made the first couple of steps – we’re doing a lot with the academy and trying to make certain that we improve things there, so that hopefully one or two of those players will come through.

“We’ve signed Eze, of course, who was our only really serious signing outside of the loan player who we signed in Michy. We’re thinking along those lines, but you need to realise sometimes that those are the hardest players to get.

“To get the quality that you require – [which is] to be better than what you’ve already got, and on top of that the player needs to be young and needs to have a big future in front of him – they’re the hardest players to get because everyone really wants them, and they are the ones whose prices are often the most inflated.”