- Cheick Doucoure targeting summer return
- Mali international has been out for 18 months
- Injury return feels desperate
Crystal Palace will be hoping that Cheick Doucoure can return to his best next season after an injury period that has almost felt never-ending. Doucoure’s last game for the club was all the way back in January 2025.
A heavily disrupted recovery process has left him out for the best part of 18 months, and his season was confirmed to be over in early May despite making progress as he worked towards a Selhurst Park return.
Doucouré signed for Palace from RC Lens in the Summer of 2022, the same club that Palace are signing new manager Pierre Sage from.
Doucouré’s start to life in South London was excellent, and he was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool the summer after his arrival.
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Doucoure’s injury issues
An initial injury picked up in a 2-1 defeat to Luton Town at Kenilworth Road kept Doucoure sidelined for nine months. A return to action in the back end of 2024 was brief, and further issues were identified, causing delays in his rehab.
Initially, he ruptured his Achilles tendon, and then he tore his meniscus. His last game for the club came back in January 2025, almost 18 months ago, and at times it felt as though Doucoure might never play for the club again.
In March, there was a brief moment of optimism when he played with the Under-21s, then playing 70 minutes against Wolves in Premier League Two.
Another setback came in April, and Oliver Glasner has been transparent about the struggles of his recovery.
“Cheicky had a few disrupted weeks. First of all, he had a daughter, then he started training and felt it a little bit, in his muscle, not really a heavy injury.”
The issue with his recovery was that after 2-3 days of training, he’d be injured for 2-3 days.
Now or never for Doucoure
Doucouré’s current deal runs for a further three seasons, and at this point what once seemed like an excellent deal for the club, encouraging Doucouré to commit his future to the club, is turning into a slight headache.
Doucouré needs to get back to fitness because, right now, the reality is that Palace are consistently sinking money into an asset that is not producing results.
At his best, Doucouré can be an absolute World beater, and before his initial injury, he was well on his way to becoming a top midfielder.
In many ways, the injury came at the very worst time. Palace fans will be hoping that Doucoure can get back to his best next season, and the Mali international will be targeting a pre-season return to work under the new manager ahead of what promises to be another exciting season.
