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According to The Daily Mail, Roy Hodgson's Crystal Palace are eyeing Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish as a possible replacement for Wilfried Zaha who they are willing to let leave for £80million in the summer.

What's the word, then?

The Eagles are lining up Grealish with their star man Zaha rumoured to be up for a club-record £80m fee, a sum which they will of course look to immediately invest back into the squad, per the original report.

 

 

As a central attacking midfielder who can do a job out on either wing, Grealish wouldn't be a like-for-like replacement for the Ivory Coast international but would certainly help to fill the attacking void left by his departure.

A product of Villa's academy and also a target of Tottenham Hotspur, the controversial and talented star has racked up 140 appearances since breaking into the senior side at Villa Park in 2012 after 11 years in the youth set-up - he has also represented both the Republic of Ireland and England at under-21 level.

The missing creativity in the Palace ranks

It's no secret that Palace don't score enough goals and a huge part of that is missing creativity, mainly from midfield, in the ranks at Selhurst Park.

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The player that the South Londoners perhaps thought they were getting in Max Meyer has not lived up to his billing and his signing last summer has failed to solve the problem.

Zaha is by far the team's most creative star but they rely on him too much for that creativity and when he isn't firing, the Eagles struggle to fly freely.

There's little doubt that the loss of the 26-year-old would be a monumental one, though properly replacing him could ease the impact considerably.

Bringing in Grealish as part of that is a must as the Englishman has thrived under Dean Smith in a more attacking role in the last few months.

Without his increased attacking influence, the Birmingham side would hardly be in such a good position to make the Sky Bet Championship play-offs with just two games left to play.

Replacing Zaha would also need to involve the recruitment of an out-and-out wide man such as Everton's Ademola Lookman, who is mentioned in the report, but the central midfield creativity Grealish will bring will be the biggest key to coping without him.

The question is will they be able to prize the potential future England international away from the Midlands in the event of promotion?