Jaydee Canvot caused quite a stir when the Crystal Palace defender celebrated Gabriel Gudmondsson’s red card in a 0-0 draw against Leeds United. The young French centre-back was seen pumping his fist in joy and jumping around in response to the Swede’s sending off.
The incident was one of the most interesting events of the game at Selhurst Park on Sunday (March 15th). While Palace fans found the funny side of his antics, rival supporters were enraged and accused him of being unprofessional.
Sherwood slams Canvot
Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood has given a brutal assessment of Canvot after seeing his celebration. He told Sky Sports News that he didn’t think Gudmundsson should have been given his marching orders:
“I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It’s a poor decision in the first place because it’s not a second yellow card for Gudmundsson. If he’d remembered booking him the first time he’d have never sent him off for that.”
Sherwood ripped into the French defender’s response:
“The Palace players got around him and said ‘you’ve already given him a yellow’. But to celebrate like that is an absolute disgrace. What are you doing there? It baffled me, it really did.”
He added:
“Why are you doing that? I just don’t like it. I think it’s disrespectful. If I was a Leeds player, I’d have said ‘grow up mate, what are you doing?’”
Palace played the second half with a one-man advantage but couldn’t even find the target, let alone the back of the net. This was alluded to by Sherwood:
“What did it actually guarantee you? It didn’t guarantee them anything. They’d have lost the game if Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his penalty anyway. Just concentrate on playing football, all this nonsense has annoyed me.“
Canvot hadn’t been in the headlines until his cheeky celebration, and he probably deserves more recognition for his performances rather than his mischief. He was again superb against Leeds, putting in another impressive display in Oliver Glasner’s defence.
Palace still intend to replace Guehi
Canvot’s arrival at Selhurst Park came with Marc Guehi’s expected departure in mind. The English defender was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool throughout the summer transfer window.
Guehi stayed put beyond the summer after a £35m switch on deadline day fell through. He bid farewell to the Eagles in January, joining Manchester City for £20m.
Canvot has been extremely impressive since making the move to South London from French outfit Toulouse. But the transfer chiefs are still set to prioritise replacing Guehi when the transfer window re-opens.
A four-man shortlist has been drawn up and includes Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez. Another option is Sporting CP’s Ousmane Diomande although he penned a new contract which includes a £70m release clause.
