Crystal Palace have found themselves in a positive place ever since Patrick Vieira took over as the club's manager in the summer of 2021.

The Frenchman's debut season in charge saw him lead the club to an excellent finishing position of 12th in the Premier League finish, with victories over Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal along the way.

A run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup was also a nice little bonus, and despite a slow start to this campaign - winning only one league match so far - the future looks bright at Selhurst Park.

One of Vieira’s finest moves last season was bringing Joachim Andersen to the club, and the Danish defender has proven his worth so far.

Vieira hit the jackpot with Andersen

Palace announced that they had signed the centre-back from Lyon last summer for a fee of £17m after he represented Denmark at the European Championship, playing in three matches as they had an excellent run to the semi-finals.

The 26-year-old had prior Premier League experience before joining the Eagles, playing 31 times for Fulham whilst on loan from Lyon in 2020/21.

Last season, he featured in 34 league matches for Palace, achieving a SofaScore rating of 6.92 for his performances.

Even for a defender, his attacking qualities shone through as he created two big chances, along with making 0.6 key passes and having 78 touches each game. He featured in a defence which kept 11 clean sheets while he also won 53% of his duels, showing just how strong and effective he has been at the heart of defence.

The 26-year-old has continued this rich vein of form into the current campaign, ranking second in the Palace squad on WhoScored with a rating of 7.27. He has won the most aerial duels out of the squad (2.8 per match) and also is their joint-second highest scorer.

The defender's value on CIES Football Observatory is €30m (£26m), a full £9m more than the club paid for him. If he continues these impressive performances, this valuation will only grow.

Vieira explained that Andersen was “massively important” not long after he joined the club, and considering his performance in the early weeks of the campaign, he could be deemed just as crucial to the future of Palace as top scorer Wilfried Zaha.

It looks like the Frenchman struck gold on the Dane, and the 46-year-old will be looking at making him a mainstay in the Selhurst Park defence for the next few years.