- Palace set to confirm Sage as Glasner successor
- Sage earns high praise from distinguished manager
- Success hopefully replicated at Selhurst Park
Crystal Palace are moving even closer to confirming their Oliver Glasner successor, with reports confirming RC Lens’s Pierre Sage is set to become the new Palace manager.
Sage has remained the top candidate for the role in South London across the last few weeks, with new reports indicating personal terms have been agreed. An announcement may be imminent.
Last week it was reported that the 47-year-old had informed Lens of his desire to leave the club and had met with Palace officials to hear the outline of Palace’s project.
Palace have now found their man, with reports suggesting Sage is attractive due to his structured, school-of-thought style of football. He transformed Lens this season, earning their first major trophy and securing Champions League football.
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Enrique praises Sage’s “incredible” season
Speaking in the pre match press conference before Lens hosted PSG on 13 May Enrique offered high praise to the Frenchman:
“This is the first time since I’ve been here that a team has given us so much trouble. Nobody imagined this at the start of the season.
“Congrats to Lens and to Pierre Sage, he deserves to win the Ligue 1 best coach trophy. What he’s done is incredible”.
The comment is of high value coming from a distinguished manager who lead PSG to their second consecutive Champions League trophy.
Although Lens suffered two 2-0 defeats to PSG this season, Sage’s side made it tough competition for the Ligue 1 title finishing second just six points behind PSG. The two sides will face each other in the Trophée des Champions in August after Sage led RC Lens to their first Coupe de France.
Fans hoping for a successful gamble
Sage’s performance with RC Lens this season has been incredible, and Palace fans will be hoping that this form and style of play can be transferred to Selhurst Park. However, Sage does have limited managerial experience and could take some time to work with the intensity of the Premier League.
With the Europa League to contend with alongside domestic competitions, the club and fans will be trusting that the arrival of a new manager and changes to the squad will cause minimal disruptions to the incredible form Palace finished this season on.
