Recruitment: Art, Science, or Luck?

[TheBigToePunt]

As I type, the (pointless?) world cup third place game between England and France is an hour away. There will be five, that's FIVE, current or very recent Palace players starting, with Mateta to possibly come on. None of these were international footballers when they signed for Palace. Three of them hadn't even played top flight football in any country.

I wonder if this, perhaps even more than the trophies, speaks directly to the incredible success of our recruitment over recent years. And that's without Wharton, Munoz, Sarr, etc.

It makes me think, surely this has been not only an unprecedented run of transfer market success, but an impossible one to ever match? How can it be reasonable to hope, much less expect, that we will find that many affordable players who become that good again?

 

[Davepalace707]

As I type, the (pointless?) world cup third place game between England and France is an hour away. There will be five, that's FIVE, current or very recent Palace players starting, with Mateta to possibly come on. None of these were international footballers when they signed for Palace. Three of them hadn't even played top flight football in any country.

I wonder if this, perhaps even more than the trophies, speaks directly to the incredible success of our recruitment over recent years. And that's without Wharton, Munoz, Sarr, etc.

It makes me think, surely this has been not only an unprecedented run of transfer market success, but an impossible one to ever match? How can it be reasonable to hope, much less expect, that we will find that many affordable players who become that good again?

We have to hope that the reputation we have got following our success the past couple of seasons is enough to attract a few more. I think we all think it is unlikely to continue but let’s make the most of it while it does. I agree it seems inevitable that these levels won’t continue for ever, but let’s hope we at least don’t go back to the bad old days of the Championship. Feels to me like getting the stadium built is a big part of achieving that.

 

[PatrickA]

As I type, the (pointless?) world cup third place game between England and France is an hour away. There will be five, that's FIVE, current or very recent Palace players starting, with Mateta to possibly come on. None of these were international footballers when they signed for Palace. Three of them hadn't even played top flight football in any country.

I wonder if this, perhaps even more than the trophies, speaks directly to the incredible success of our recruitment over recent years. And that's without Wharton, Munoz, Sarr, etc.

It makes me think, surely this has been not only an unprecedented run of transfer market success, but an impossible one to ever match? How can it be reasonable to hope, much less expect, that we will find that many affordable players who become that good again?

Good post
We'll do well to get anywhere near matching this record.
A bit of a depressing thought really!