Crystal Palace have confirmed the signing of Max Meyer, and the transfer has raised a lot of eyebrows. The German midfielder has penned a £170,000 per week contract at Selhurst Park after initially seeing out his contract with FC Schalke at the end of last season.
Many experts and fans believe that the signing of Meyer is a sign of many great things to come for Crystal Palace. Some even claim the coup of Meyer as the potential signing of the summer in the Premier League. But, is really worth all the fuss?
Max Meyer – Player profile
Once regarded as one of Germany’s greatest talents in the 21st century, Meyer rose through the Schalke youth ranks quite quickly before being promoted to the first team at the start of 2013. Since then, he has featured in almost 200 competitive appearances for the Royal Blues, scoring 22 goals whilst providing 24 assists.
Meyer eventually fell out with the Schalke hierarchy when his contract demands proved too much for the Bundesliga giants. As a result, the 22-year-old chose to see out his contract at the Veltins Arena last season, despite being viewed as an important player at the club by head coach Domenico Tedesco.
Player stats and attributes
Meyer was initially viewed as a creative midfielder during the early days of his professional career. But, after falling out of favour during the course of the 2016/17 campaign, Tedesco introduced Meyer as his new deep-lying playmaker last season and the effort duly paid off.
Meyer has excelled in his new role, thanks to his composure and ball-carrying qualities, which indeed helped Schalke be more flexible in the central areas of the pitch.
He attempted an impressive 3.2 tackles whilst averaging 2.3 interceptions per game. Although his key passing ratio went down considerably due to his deeper positioning, he still made some marauding runs into the opposition half, which were quite fruitful for the Ruhr giants.
How will he fit in at Crystal Palace?
Roy Hodgson can easily accommodate Max Meyer in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. He could partner alongside the reliable Luka Milivojevic in the 4-2-3-1. Alternatively, he can also operate as the main number ten, which will enable him to be more lucid in the final third.
However, it will be important for Palace that he stays fit throughout the course of the season given their lack of depth in that area of the pitch.
Verdict
It’s very hard to predict whether Meyer will turn out to be the signing of the season, at this point in time. That being said, he is no doubt an excellent addition to the Eagles, who were in huge trouble following the departure of Yohan Cabaye earlier this summer.
It remains to be seen if the German midfielder will manage to replicate his performances in arguably the most competitive league in the world.
Stat courtesy: Whoscored