Cheikhou Kouyate is a professional footballer hailing from the African nation of Senegal. For the past four years, he has been part of the Premier League’s West Ham team. He also recently represented his home nation at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Before the signing deadline, Crystal Palace was able to make a deal with West Ham moving Kouyate to the Eagles. While other clubs sought Kouyate, he only considered the offer from Crystal Palace stating this is where he wants to play. Signing a four-year contract, Kouyate is to receive £9.5 million as he moves to the other side of London.
Last season, Kouyate appeared in 33 matches scoring only two goals. Over his four year stint at West Ham, he appeared more than 140 times with 15 goals. With his lacklustre statistics, Kouyate has been on the radar for possible release for a while now. While he does possess both speed and strength, the problem is that he rarely shows this. Sometimes he won’t try to make a move on the pitch unless he has a significant amount of room around him in which he can dribble the ball.
Appearing in the recent 2018 World Cup, Kouyate played on the Senegal Team which was knocked out early in the competition. Despite this, many agree that Senegal has improved substantially although many wish they could have gone further in the World Cup. This was just the second start ever for the Senegalese. Following the group play, Senegal only had four points and tied with Japan. In the end, Senegal had more yellow cards which disqualified them from moving on. Kouyate served as captain for the team that finally made it to the event for the second time in their history. The last being in 2002. The move to Crystal Palace reunites Kouyate with his fellow countryman and former teammate, Papa Souare.
With the signing of Kouyate, Crystal Palace’s Roy Hodgdon is hoping to shore up central midfield by adding some depth to the position. This summer, Hodgdon lost two players at this position. Yohan Cabaye left on a free transfer while Ruben Loftus Cheek returned to Chelsea from whom he had been on loan. Without talent on the roster, the position was left weak as the season’s opening loomed. By positioning Kouyate beside Luka Milivojevic, the middle of the field is much more solid opening up other players to cause problems for their competitors. Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha could be more of a threat as Crystal Palace seeks to finish better this season. Many believe that the addition of Kouyate only improves the roster beefing up their chances of having a top ten finish.
Now that the trade is complete and the 2018 Premier League season has commenced, football fans will be watching to see how Kouyate fares with his new team. Perhaps this year the team will finish even stronger. Currently, sportsbooks have the Crystal Palace’s odds of winning outright as 500 to 1 with a predicted 10th place finish.
