Crystal Palace made a successful start to their first-team squad overhaul in the summer, but the job is far from complete for new manager Patrick Vieira.

What's the story?

The likes of Marc Guehi, Michael Olise and Odsonne Edouard replaced several ageing campaigners at Selhurst Park, giving the capital club a far more youthful and exciting look under their French boss.

And now, journalist Tom Barclay believes Palace believes Vieira will be targeting a new right-back over the coming months as he looks to finish off his rebuilding job in south London.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Barclay said: “On the right-hand side at the moment, Joel Ward is a fantastic servant, very reliable, fantastic defensively, but is probably not technically the most gifted.

“And I imagine going forward, in this process that Vieira is trying to put in, they probably want a more creative, technically better right-back playing in that position.”

Crystal Palace fans will be buzzing

Ward has been an admirable performer for Palace ever since he arrived from Portsmouth for just £585,000 back in 2012, scoring five goals and providing ten assists in his 282 appearances in all competitions.

The 31-year-old has become somewhat of a fan's favourite during his nine-year stay thanks to his full-blooded performances and has been a regular starter under a raft of different managers.

However, the 6 foot 1 beast is far from a modern-day full-back. While Ward is comfortable defending one-on-one against an opposition winger or clearing his lines when a cross comes into the box, he often struggles to provide an attacking threat.

As per SofaScore, Ward has only averaged 0.3 key passes per game this season despite playing every minute, has only completed 43% of his dribbles and managed 0.3 accurate crosses per outing.

His underwhelming performances in the final third of the pitch have seen him receive an average match rating of just 6.67, the 14th-lowest total in the Palace squad.

As a result, a large section of the club's supporters will surely be buzzing at the prospect of a new right-sided defender joining Vieira's revolution over the next couple of transfer windows, providing the south London outfit with extra firepower down the flanks.

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