Crystal Palace are reportedly interested in signing Borussia Monchengladbach striker Marcus Thuram ahead of the January transfer window and the Frenchman could be Patrick Vieira's own version of Robert Lewandowski at Selhurst Park.

According to reports from Italy, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Arsenal are all interested in signing the 25-year-old after his impressive performances in the Bundesliga this season.

The Eagles have looked toothless up front in the absence of Odsonne Edouard recently and with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew arguably not cutting it as Premier League strikers, with just one goal between them this season, it seems clear that Vieira requires attacking reinforcements after the World Cup.

Thuram's form so far this campaign, which has seen him hit ten goals and three assists in just 15 Bundesliga appearances, suggests that he could add some serious quality at Selhurst Park should he make the move from Germany.

The 25-year-old's superb 7.45 average rating from WhoScored ranks him far higher than any player in Vieira's squad, so it is easy to see why the Eagles might be interested, although any comparison with legendary forward Robert Lewandowski might just seal the deal from Steve Parish's point of view.

According to FBRef, the Polish forward is the second-most similar player to Thuram across Europe’s top leagues, which is a very promising comparison considering his incredible goalscoring form with Bayern Munich and Barcelona in recent years, with the 34-year-old bagging 18 in just 19 outings for the latter so far.

This season has seen the two strikers register extremely similar statistics in terms of shots on target (30 vs 28), goal-creating actions (eight vs seven) and progressive passes received (85 vs 87).

The fact that Thuram is so similar to Lewandowski in a lot of attacking metrics this season, despite playing in an undeniably poorer team, suggests that he could be a huge threat in the Premier League.

His displays this season have seen him labelled "world-class" by Wolfsburg’s sporting director Marcel Schäfer so the prospect of having him at Selhurst Park would surely be an exciting one for Vieira, and Parish should definitely look at bringing him in during January.