Greatest ever player.

I said to my mate the very first time I saw Olise that he was far too good for us, and I doubt that he'd be here long.

Having been a fan since the early 70s, he's the most gifted player I've seen at Palace.

My top 3 would be

Olise
Lombardo
Cabaye
 
Olise may not top the list of Palace's greatest players, but blimey we saw him play some majestic football and I'd wager that he could become one of, if not the, greatest player in the world who used to play for Palace.

His contributions to Bayern's performances are amazing and he goes from strength to strength. There aren't many ex players I like to watch, but if ever there's an opportunity to watch him I grab it.
 
Blimey Monkey, I would have thought you'd nominate Billy Gilbert
Top three, wrighty, king Kenny and sir billy of gilbert 😎

Much as I loved BG, he probably hung around with us a bit too long(grateful he did) but despite a decent career at pompey he didn’t reach the heights of wright and Sansom after leaving us
 
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The OP was to name the player of the highest quality, across their career, who also happened to have played for palace along the way, even if only for a short while, or badly.

Difficult to look past Edgar Davids, given the criteria, though Ashley Cole comes to mind. Ray Houghton. Perhaps Ray Wilkins.

Interesting how many people immediately thought of Olise. I did too. Obviously he hasn't yet had the career those named above had, but of all the high grade, young, up and coming players we've had over the decades, Olise stood out. Utter class.
 
I saw him miss a penalty at the clock end Highbury, Sansom scored, 1-1 at the time, it hardly reached the goal
I must have seen that too, but don't remember. I do remember the two goals (I think!): Kenny sort of stretching to strike the ball and a beautiful curling free kick from Liam Brady? I was watching from the seats and glad I was not packed in the clock end like sardines.
 
What I find interesting with some of the names mentioned so far is how we have changed our player recruitment policy.
I have definitely enjoyed more watching players come in at a younger age, be it through the academy or astute purchases, and then seeing them progress their careers. The obvious recent ones being Eze, Olise, Marc and hopefully Wharton. However we have always produced good young players and should continue with this approach. As opposed to our previous policy of buying older players nearing the end of the careers.
This was particularly the case with the likes of Lombardo, Brolin, David’s etc.
There is something quite special about seeing a youngster doing well, and I then tend to keep an eye on their careers.
 
Like others have said, depends whether you mean with us or the highest prestige player we've had. Davids and Lombardo were pretty big names but Palace wasn't their greatest era. Anyway, enough waffle. Patrick Bamford.
 

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