To the casual Premier League fan, Crystal Palace might be a far more boring team to support than the likes of Newcastle, Brighton, West Ham or Aston Villa: after all, they’ve finished no higher than 10th and no lower than 15th since returning to the Premier League in 2013. However, dig a little deeper and there appears to be something of a revolution going on in South London, with the Eagles quietly turning themselves into one of the league’s most exciting teams.
The man in charge, sporting director Dougie Freedman, has been on something of a hot streak of late. On the pitch, he’s put together a starting eleven so full of exciting young talent that they’ve finally shaken off the Wilfried Zaha sized shadow and become a joy to watch. Unfortunately, that tends to bring its own problems, bigger clubs have started to circle and they’re hard to refuse. Palace have proven to be no exception, selling midfield dynamo Michael Olise to Bayern Munich.
While this has the potential to cause issues, Palace’s new manager is the perfect solution. Oliver Glasner, replacement for the long serving Roy Hodgson, has a lot going for him. He plays exciting, unpredictable football and he’s a serial winner. Glasner, who’s taken a 2nd division side to the Champions League (LASK Linz) and won the Europa League (Eintracht Frankfurt), is the perfect candidate to usher in a new golden era for the Eagles. To help him do that, and replace the outgoing Olise, Glasner has decided to recruit a player he knows well, Japanese international midfielder Daichi Kamada.
Born in the city of Iyo in Japan, Kamada credits his father for his love of football. Kamada Sr, a respected amateur player in his local city, taught his son the finer points of how to be a professional footballer. Thankfully, it paid off. Kamada got his start in the J League, he spent two seasons playing for Sagan Tosu before earning himself a move to Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in 2017.
Nonetheless, his first season wasn’t great and Kamada spent the year on the bench. To get him more minutes, the club decided to send him on loan to Belgian side Sint-Truiden. It proved to be a masterstroke. Kamada was a revelation in Belgium, notching 25 goal contributions while on loan. This proved to be just the start too, following his return to Germany he became a key member of the Frankfurt side that won both DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Europa League.
Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. Following the expiry of his contract in 2023, Kamada signed for Serie A side Lazio. Sadly, this couldn’t have gone any worse. Amid accusations of being a ‘mercenary’ Kamada left the Roman side after one year. Palace, now managed by Glasner, acted quickly, announcing the singing of the Austrian’s former player on 1st July 2024 to get the band back together.
In short, yes. Kamada, most effective as a no. 10 but also able to play more centrally (more on this later) does lots of things well. Central to all of these, his main talent is his intelligence. Watching Kamada play feels like watching Professor X, he’s got a 6th sense for space that’s seen him draw favourable comparisons to Thomas Müller, the original “Space Invader”.
Combine this with a few other ingredients and you get something special. Whether it’s with or without the ball, Kamada has an incredible talent for attacking space. Due to his superior positional awareness, the Japanese often finds himself in a position to receive the ball in an advantageous position or is able to make runs that do so.
A perfect example of this is the below game against Real Betis. Upon seeing Frankfurt regain possession, Kamada promptly sprinted into the space between the two defenders on the right hand side of the box, this was the perfect passing option for teammate Jesper Lindstrøm.
The Dane promptly passed Kamada the ball, an action resulting in a goal. Once he’s got the ball at his feet, Kamada does a great job of creating space for himself. He then has time to use his superior awareness of the field to perfection, either carrying the ball into dangerous areas himself if defenders stand off him or passing it to a teammate.
This was on show during the below game against Hertha Berlin. Kamada receives the ball in the Hertha half of the field, and upon seeing he’s heavily marked, promptly puts Portuguese striker André Silva through on goal with a neat pass.
The result? Silva through on goal before being brought down by a defender.
So we know he’s good with the ball, big deal, what’s his end product like?
Pretty good too. Kamada’s intelligence, close control and accuracy make him a very effective goal scorer and provider, he’s finished every season since 2019 with at least 13 goal contributions. As a goal scorer, the Japanese midfielder can score from anywhere on the pitch, showing he’s perfectly capable of winning games single handedly, just ask Arsenal.
The best bit? He’s actually a better provider than scorer. Kamada’s intelligence, close control and accuracy make him something of a magician. He’s consistently in the top 10 for Goal Creating Actions in the Bundesliga and he’s capable of moments of magic.
Always the fun bit, Kamada has all these skills but where will he fit in? One of Glasner’s strengths is his unpredictability. While his favourite formation is a 3-4-2-1, he tends to switch between that, a 3-5-2 and a 3-4-3 in games, depending on how opponents set up.
In possession, Glasner’s teams use the width of the pitch to stretch opponents across the field, using this to create a high volume of quality attacking chances. Given Kamada is primarily a no. 10, he’s likely to spend most of his time either partnering Eberechi Eze in the 3-4-2-1 or behind Eze and Jean-Phillipe Mateta in a 3-5-2.
Eze, one of the Premier League’s best dribblers and an established goal threat as well, will combine well with Kamada. Given that Eze is at his best receiving the ball before running at defenders, giving him a partner with a psychic ability to find space should see the England international given boat loads more goal scoring opportunities.
And if Eze is marked? Kamada has a lot more space to do his thing, whether that’s distributing the ball out wide to Daniel Muñoz or centrally to Mateta the goals are going to start flying in. And if Glasner doesn’t play with a no. 10? No problem, he’s already found a solution.
Frankfurt’s signing of German international Mario Götze in 2022 could’ve posed a significant problem for Kamada. To fix it, Glassner moved him into a deeper midfield role. The result? Kamada finished the season with 16 goal contributions, the 2nd most progressive passes on the team and the most tackles of all Frankfurt midfielders. Combine this with the current crop of central midfielders on Palace’s books and there’s potential for some deadly partnerships.
Just a bit, Palace have an absolute gem on their hands. He might have had some recent struggles, but Kamada is back playing under a manager he knows and is a proven match winner. In short, I wouldn’t want to have to play Crystal Palace anytime soon.
Glasner will take Palace to Brentford today for their Premier League kickoff.
On Kamada, he said, “It’s the same like with the youth players. We were looking for which players could help us, especially in case one of our offensive players leaves, like Michael Olise now. And Daichi is a player who is creative, who can score goals, like he showed against Nantes.
“He knows how we want to play, so it made it a little bit easier to integrate him in the way of playing. From the first day, he understood it, because we worked together for two years. But for him, it’s the same: he has to compete with all the others.
“We have a very competitive squad, and he has to be better than the other players in his position. He has to show that he’s maybe closer to helping a team win a game. Then he will start, and if not, the other one (a teammate) will start.”
On Wharton, he also stated: “He’s a great guy. First of all, it’s the most important thing, he’s a great character. And yes, his last six months, or now eight months, were unbelievable for himself.
“Starting in January at Blackburn, and then playing such a Premier League half-year, and then going up to the (Euros) final with England, and a lot of impressions he had.
“And also to be honest, let’s say the first week when he came back, he’s 20, you have to make something with your mind and with your personality. It took him the first week to get back, but since then he’s back again.
“He’s working hard in training. He’s one of the guys who is not on his highest fitness level, he can’t be, so he had the first 45 minutes in the USA. He had a very short break, he had just two weeks break. Honestly, too short, but he didn’t have a game with England. Many discussions we had, many talks we had.
“But now he’s up again, and he’s a fantastic player. He shows it every day in training, and as I mentioned, a very important, great character.”
How did pre-season go for Crystal Palace?
It has probably gone as well as it could have done, as they went unbeaten throughout the summer.
There were some questionable defensive mistakes against Crawley, where they let three in against a League One side, but I would say it has gone as well as any Crystal Palace fan could have hoped for.
There is not too much to read into during pre-season, but winning in America against West Ham and Wolves was a good benchmark for where the squad is at.
Daichi Kamada has settled in really well; Chadi Riad, too.
Losing Olise has been a real bitter blow for the squad and Oliver Glasner as he was formidable under him, but Kamada looks a real shrewd acquisition on a free transfer and Odsonne Édouard is scoring goals, so there have been some real positives to take so far.
Oliver Glasner turned things around pretty impressively after replacing Roy Hodgson in February. Is there a level of excitement that, if they pick up where they left off, it could lead to better things over the course of a full season?
Olise left for Bayern Munich, Marc Guehi has been linked with Newcastle, Jean-Philippe Mateta has interest, as does Eberechi Eze - and Adam Wharton has only been there six months and is already being valued at £100 million.
That is a good core of the squad linked with moves away or with suitors following them, so there is always that looming feeling that, as soon as Palace start to build up a head of steam - as they did towards the end of last season - the best assets are going to be stripped away.
Glasner has always made it clear that, as long as the structure of the squad is in place, there will be the ability to get results. I think we saw towards the end of last season that, no matter who was playing or where, Palace could score goals for fun.
There is optimism that they could do well this season, but also the looming feeling that they have not replaced Olise yet and they need to spend to replace a player of his quality, because he is probably the most talented player to ever play in a Crystal Palace shirt.
As you have mentioned, Olise’s departure to Bayern Munich has been the biggest news on the transfer front at Selhurst Park, but what have you made of their window on the whole?
They have made good signings. Kamada has worked with and won the Europa League title with Glasner, which is nothing but good for the squad because he knows how the manager wants to play and can fit in seamlessly.
I think he could start as one of the attacking midfielders behind Mateta or Edouard at Brentford on Sunday, just due to the fact that, with Olise going, Kamada knows the style of play. He has never played Premier League football before, but he has played in Germany and Italy and scored goals everywhere, so he is a really good acquisition.
Riad came through at Barcelona, did really well at Real Betis last season, and was a player the sporting director watched intently. He did really well in pre-season, loves a tackle and, with three at the back, they are always going to need options.
They did have Ryan Sessegnon on trial, but I do not think he showed too much to the fact Palace had to throw a really big contract at him, so now he has gone to Fulham.
Palace’s squad is a little bit light, but they still have the core of the squad and Eze and Guehi just returned from international duty last week. The squad is slowly but surely coming together.
Which player should Brentford fans be keeping an eye on on Sunday?
It was Olise the past three times! But I am going to go for Adam Wharton this time around.
Everybody knows the quality he possesses; with his passing range, he can unlock defences, and he reads the game so well - he can pick out players nobody in the stands can even see.
He is a massive talent who has adapted to the Premier League with ease and is going to go on and do incredible things in his career. If you give him time on the ball, he will punish you.
'Everybody knows the quality [Adam Wharton] possesses; with his passing range, he can unlock defences, and he reads the game so well - he can pick out players nobody in the stands can even see'
How is Glasner likely to set up his side at the Gtech?
It is a three or a five at the back, depending on whether they are attacking or defending. It is a 3-4-2-1, so the wing-backs - likely Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz - will push forward to go into midfield.
Then there are two attacking midfielders behind the striker, which is likely to be Kamada and Eze behind Mateta.
The squad will be strong and Palace will be looking to get off to a winning start.
Five of the last six meetings have ended in either a 0-0 or 1-1 draw, with Palace winning the last one 3-1 in December. What’s your score prediction for the opener?
I do think Palace are going to win it this time around, just due to the fact they have had a good pre-season and the players know what the manager wants. I am going to go 1-0 Palace.
