CRYSTAL Palace boss Oliver Glasner said he didn’t think Romain Esse was ready to step up and replace Arsenal-bound Eberechi Eze.
Eze, 27, is set to join the Gunners in a £68million deal.
Palace signed Esse in a £14million deal from London rivals Millwall last January. Esse, 20, scored just two minutes into his debut as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat to Brentford at Selhurst Park.
He has only made eight more appearances, including one league start. Glasner raised eyebrow by taking off Esse ten minutes after sending him on in their 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on the last day of the season.
Esse has been an unused substitute in the Eagles’ three games this season, the latter in the 1-0 win against Fredrikstad in the Conference League when Eze wasn’t involved as his move edged closer.
Glasner was asked about Esse’s prospects in his pre-match press conference ahead of hosting Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“Not now, honestly not now,” Glasner said. “Then we don’t need a signing but Romain played for six months at Millwall, he was good and we brought him in but now it’s about making the next steps to be ready for Premier League football consistently. Not once or twice, we need a player who is consistently performing.”
Glasner added: ”Again, I’m worrying about Crystal Palace, if I asked you when I arrived who are the most important players in Crystal Palace’s attack you say Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise. Both are gone and then you need to replace them. Even at that time, I wouldn’t be sitting here if the club had been successful, they were playing against relegation for two years in a row – even with these two top stars.
“If we don’t do the right things now, I’m worried that it can go very quickly in the wrong direction. When I see what’s happening around us, even more.
“Dean Henderson said it before the Fredrikstad game we lost Michael and we couldn’t replace him because he was too good. But with a different profile and slight change to the way we play – we can replace him and that’s what Ismaila Sarr did. He’s not Michael Olise but he helped us achieve the best season in Crystal Palace history.”
