[ad_pod ]
Crystal Palace's urgent need for a striker has hardly diminished this week as fans surely fume at their side's lack of potency in losses to Brighton and West Ham - now the Sun exclusively reports that the Eagles are plotting a swoop for Bournemouth's Jermain Defoe in a bid to banish their goalscoring woes.
What's the word?
Well, the Sun claims that Roy Hodgson and co. are keen to offer the veteran striker a Premier League lifeline amidst interest from a host of Championship clubs, including Nottingham Forest, Wigan Athletic and Sheffield United - a lifeline it would be indeed, as the 36-year-old has been able to accumulate just 22 minutes of top flight football this season.
The journeyman has racked up 496 appearances in the Premier League alone and will be looking to join recent inductee James Milner in the 500 club - the Liverpool man, however, is a key component of Jurgen Klopp's side, while Defoe is becoming a spare part at the Vitality as the inspired form of Callum Wilson makes his chances hard to come by.
Only natural when you are the second-lowest scoring team in the league, Palace have been linked with a number of strikers in recent weeks but surely this rumoured move would make by far the most sense.
Palace need a poacher
The Selhurst Park outfit currently have just two fit, orthodox strikers in Jordan Ayew and Alexander Sorloth but neither have kicked on in the way Hodgson would have surely hoped as both have thus far failed to net in the league.
While it may not be entirely the fault of the aforementioned duo, the Eagles' wings are clipped and the desperate need for a natural finisher is becoming ever more apparent - this is Defoe in a nutshell. The former Spurs man is adept at finding space and getting on the end of a low cross, the latter of which is essential to the strugglers' style of play.
After he scored a delicious lobbed volley against them last season, Palace fans will be all too familiar with the Cherries hitman and his knack for sticking the ball in the back of the net could be extremely valuable for the Croydon-based club if they can get him on loan in January.
There is no doubt it could be one of the most impactful signings of the window and one that Wilfried Zaha and Andros Towsend, in particular will surely dream comes to fruition.