Crystal Palace haven’t made many big sales in recent years, despite having some top players on their books. Michael Olise did leave this summer, however, for around £50m to Bayern Munich.
Olise is Palace’s second-highest sale of all time, with the third-highest being Joachim Andersen, who was also sold this summer for around £30m to Fulham.
But the Eagles’ record sale came back in 2019 when Roy Hodgson sold Aaron Wan-Bissaka for around £50m to Manchester United.
Wan-Bissaka made 46 appearances for Palace, providing four assists and totalling 4,101 minutes played for the club.
How Wan-Bissaka has played since leaving
Wan-Bissaka spent five years at Manchester United, making 190 appearances for the club, scoring two goals and providing 13 assists, in 15,953 minutes of action. He also earned many plaudits for his defensive quality, with scout Jacek Kulig even labelling him a “defensive colossus” for his Champions League display against PSG in 2020.
The 6-foot defender has extremely long legs, allowing him to make tackles and interceptions most other players are unable to even attempt, which earned him the nickname “spider” among the Red Devils fanbase.
After a five-year spell at Manchester United, Wan-Bissaka has now moved on, leaving the Red Devils to join West Ham for a fee of around £15m on a seven-year deal. The 26-year-old has already made seven appearances for the Hammers, totalling 568 minutes played.
The right-back’s value according to Transfermarkt is just £17m which is a 63% decrease from the enormous £50m fee Crystal Palace sold him for back in 2019. On the flip side, Olise was worth just £167k back then. His reputation, by comparison, has skyrocketed compared to the dwindling Wan-Bissaka.
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Wan-Bissaka vs Daniel Munoz comparison
The Eagles now have 28-year-old Daniel Munoz playing right-back for them, signed from Genk for just £6.9m.
Since joining in January 2024, the defender has made 25 appearances for Palace, providing four assists and totalling 2,157 minutes.
These two players are different profiles of right-back, with Wan-Bissaka more well-known for his 1v1 defensive qualities, whilst Munoz is more of a flying wing-back type, who can get forward, and provide a threat going the other way.
Goals & Assists
0.00
0.00
xG
0.00
0.05
xAG
0.06
0.05
Progressive Carries
3.02
1.64
Progressive Passes
3.96
2.95
Progressive Passes Received
3.40
7.21
Shots Total
0.32
0.63
Key Passes
1.32
0.98
Crosses into Pen Area
0.38
0.16
Tackles
2.08
3.28
Blocks
0.75
0.98
Interceptions
1.11
0.89
Despite previously describing both players’ profiles, the metrics actually tell us Munoz is putting in more defensive work (at least with his numbers), whilst Wan-Bissaka is contributing more going forward, with better progression metrics, more key passes per 90, and more crosses into the penalty area per 90.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
This is surprising as Munoz often plays as a right-wing back for Palace in a back five, but he is good at going both ways, so the solid defensive numbers aren’t surprising, more so, the attacking output being bettered in many areas by West Ham’s new full-back, who often plays as a nominal right-back in a back four.
Crystal Palace clearly moved Wan-Bissaka on at the right time, making good money for him, before his price depreciated, but it would be very interesting to see how his career panned out had he stayed at Selhurst Park.
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