Well in terms of the endless cycle of being a victim of our own success, we will always have those vultures circling.

However, this summer is crucial to keep as many of them as possible.

If my some miracle we keep them all together and have a fantastic season then Europe isn't an impossible feat.

Then we'll be in a position where we might pick off other big team's players, not the other way round.

I still fancy us to finish above crap "big" teams like United so moving there isn't always an attractive proposition.

Maybe I'm naive, but I'm hopeful that both Olise and Eze will stay at least for one more season, cos they enjoy playing together and they're not both going to go - at least to the same club.

If this season hadn't ended now, we'd probably finish in the top 4 as we were frankly beating teams for fun.

Of new Zaha's what?

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

In response to the OP.

We are blessed at the moment just like Man United were in 92. However there is no conveyor belt Southampton* proved that.

The players we have recruited have slipped through the fingers of the bigger clubs this simply does not happen very often. I accept that we will sell but i am not happy about it and do not see this as a model for the club.

*Southampton had 4/5 years of selling their best talent and replacing it with equally good players, until they didn't and got relegated.

I am not sure we can do anything to change this so as a fan I will enjoy having these great players and manager until the well runs dry.

It's not a strategy, we are just having a good spell where everything Dougie touches turns to gold.

There will be bad buys and academy failures ahead.

Edited by Badger11 (03 Jun 2024 7.26am)

One more point

If you discount AWB, I struggle to think of anyone who made it into the first time and we were forced to sell on in the last 10 years.

Considering the "hotbed of talent" in South london that I keep hearing about, we are hardly pelting out stars.

Football tends to go in cycles.

Recently DF has unearthed some gems.

But not everything that DF touches will turn to gold. That's where we need the Academy to produce players for the first team. That's something that seems to be getting a little harder each year.

As a comparison, Brighton have been exceptional over the last few years at spotting talent and selling on at inflated prices. Whether that is sustainable or not is the question.

I don't think we will see another Zaha type situation in which we are in a will he stay or will he go every time a contract comes up for renewal.

Therefore it's reasonable to expect that, for example, Guehi will be sold this summer. Prime selling time for the club and the player allegedly indicated he would not sign another contract with Palace.

My hope is that we can hang onto Ebs and Olise for another season. Both are young enough to wait another year for a big move if that's what they want. In the meantime, if reports are accurate, Palace seem to be looking hard at a better grade of squad players for next season. So could be good times ahead...but this is Palace...take nothing for granted

Old, Ungifted and White

Losing players is an inevitability, even the top teams in England lose players to Barca and Madrid.

Academy conveyor belt isn't really a thing. Apart from the anomalies, class of 92 and Southampton's little run, no other team as consistently developed top talent in good quantities. Chelsea now are probably the closest, but for various reasons they have let quite a few go.

For me, what we are doing now is spot on. Recruiting hungry young players from the Championship, and also backfilling with some senior free transfers.

As NEILLO said, DF is on a bit of a hot streak at the mo, so it could easily go wrong.

We also nee to remember that apart from Wharton, all of hte kids have needed a bit of time to get up to speed. So we need to have the next Olise and Eze in and acclimatising, way before we sell the current stars. Hopefully that's what Franca is.