Why Palace are stepping up their January transfer search

Crystal Palace came into this window looking for a left wing-back and an attacker to bolster their squad for the second half of the season.

Manager Oliver Glasner has spoken about how the late arrivals in the summer led to Palace's slow start to the season and that he wanted to avoid the same in January.

The Eagles have been following both Liverpool loanee Ben Doak and Millwall forwad Romain Esse.

Esse's manager, Alex Neil, this week confirmed that Palace are interested in the 19-year-old and that discussions are ongoing.

The Eagles need reinforcements in the forward positions as Matheus Franca has been out injured for most of the campaign and Glasner has relied heavily on the front three of Jean Philippe-Mateta, Ismailia Sarr and Eberechi Eze.

Palace are the fifth-lowest scorers in the league with 21 goals in 20 games and another attacker could add more end product.

Meanwhile, Tyrick Mitchell has been the mainstay of the Palace defence on the left side since making his breakthrough in 2020. Glasner has said that he can improve his attacking output but he is always solid and dependable.

Recently, he clocked up his 150th Premier League appearance, a demonstration of his reliability. It would be a huge blow if he was to be ruled out for any length of time as there is not a natural option for him if that was to happen.

Palace have quality in their squad but a couple more additions this month would leave them in a more healthy position.