Maybe this has been asked and discussed before, but can someone explain to me why on earth we signed Rakip? Hodgson said the other day the reason he didn't bring any subs on lately was a lack of options.

Luka was out on his feet in the last 10 mins versus Man Utd, but this bloke is nowhere to be seen. Does that strike anyone here as weird?

So basically the signing of Rakip was completely misaligned with Hodgson, who refuses to play the guy.

In years gone by we have tried to add some quality in January while in the midst of our perennial relegation scrap, but with the exception of a backup goalie and a striker who, guess what, is injured and therefore remains unproven, we totally failed to do that.

Jach makes some kind of sense to me, even though with recent centre back injuries he hasn't even had a look in, but what on earth are we doing signing Rakip on loan to play in the U23s and then leave? Talk about a lack of alignment between the manager and the hierarchy.

One thing Hodgson showed us with Harry Kane taking corners is that he is bloody minded and sticks to his guns at all costs - therefore due to the seemingly totally misaligned exploits of the January window, we aren't going to be seeing many substitutions made in the run in I guess.

Hence get ready for more late goals being conceded.

Trump lost. Badly. Hahahahahahaha.

I thought this was some kind of celebrity (or not quite celebrity in Rakip’s case) boxing match thread until I saw the excellently-used comma.

Edited by YT (12 Apr 2018 7.44pm)

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

My understanding is, at the end of last season, Rakip found himself without a club after being released by Malmo. As a young, promising player Benfica saw an opportunity to make a bit of money. In what I see as a relatively unprecedented move (or at least a unspoken tactic) they signed him on a contract, knowing full well they had no intention of playing him due to not fitting their system or not being good enough yet and planned from the off loaning him out to ‘put him in the shop window’ and then sell him to us for a few million at the end of this season. They got him for free and may end up selling him on for a profit. He seems to be playing well for the U23’s and whenever I have tuned in or watched the highlights he seems to have that something special!

I guess, in a nutshell, I expect us to sign him on a permanent in the summer with a view to start introducing him to the first team to replace the aging Cabaye over the next season or so. Strange situation but for me is the only thing that explains signing him on loan in the first place.

I agree its bizzare - why pay the temporary wages for a player we didn't need and had no experience of anything like the PL?
The attached link suggests is not a huge amount - it says "So, that’s no loan fee and just wages for Crystal Palace to pay, which makes this a very cheap deal given Benfica don’t hand out huge contracts to squad players". I suppose an extended trial period for which we pay him.

[Link]

Following Palace since 25 Feb 1978

We wont sign him in the summer, his new club put in a 10 million release fee. The only way we’d have paid that is if he played a few games and impressed big time

Which obviously hasn’t happened

I think he told Parish he fancied a kip, due to tiredness.

Trump lost. Badly. Hahahahahahaha.