Crystal Palace spent £17m – plus £9m in add-ons – for the highly-rated teenage winger from Flamengo in August. Sidelined with a lower back injury but now recovering to full strength again, the Eagles need him to make an instant impact given their untimely injury luck of late to their best creative players.
Franca can fire Palace forward
Only one Premier League team currently have more injuries to concern themselves with than Crystal Palace – their London rivals Chelsea.
Manchester City target Eberechi Eze (thigh) sustained an injury that could keep him out for six weeks, while Michael Olise suffered a training setback after tearing his hamstring on international duty at the U21 Euros with France in June.
Centre forward Odsonne Edouard has passed a late fitness test before Nottingham Forest await in Sky’s televised 5.30pm kick-off on Saturday evening and while the Evening Standard tonight reported Franca could play a part from the substitutes’ bench this weekend, they need him fully fit and firing rather quickly.
In the aforementioned report, Franca is said to have been taking part in the main first-team training sessions for more than a week – a welcome sign for the recovery of a highly-regarded teenage winger they were quick in snapping up, fearing other European clubs might pounce sooner or offer Flamengo more this summer.
Franca, capped eight times at youth international level with Brazil from the U16 to U20 ranks, made 27 appearances across five competitions with Flamengo in 2023 before his big move – contributing just three goals and no assists in that time, albeit with 1,000-odd total minutes and without much playing consistency.
Purists might reject the stepping stone term but Palace have proven precisely the sort of platform for creative-minded players to thrive, whether that be former loanees Ruben Loftus-Cheek or Conor Gallagher, the ease at which Eze and Olise slotted seamlessly into the fold, or more besides in a team searching for balance.
They sit ninth after seven games, with as many goals scored as conceded (7), boosted by narrow wins over Wolves and Manchester United in September.
Barring any setback, Franca is expected to be fully fit for Newcastle away on October 21, a fixture against bullish Champions League opposition which kickstarts a tough run of games between now and New Year’s Day. They need more creative variety, and their newly acquired teenager will hope the injury is a blessing in disguise.
Fly under-the-radar early on and let other signings lead the headlines, before bursting onto the scene in a new country after building some cohesion with fresh teammates on the training pitches with Roy Hodgson’s side. Easier said than done.
Picture source: Getty Images
Mo and Sports 