Ever get that creeping feeling you might have taken the wrong turning? Alieu Njie is probably wrestling with that exact thought right about now, while Crystal Palace supporters can afford a quiet, knowing smirk.
The Swedish forward went out of his way to give Selhurst Park the cold shoulder on deadline day, but looking at how things have unravelled in Florence over the last week, dodging that bullet might just be the best bit of business Palace never officially completed.
The Eleventh-Hour Chase
Crystal Palace spent a hefty chunk of the summer tracking Njie down at Torino. Pierre Sage’s side submitted two separate bids for the 21-year-old, pushing hard to bring him to South London.
Even when it looked like he was heading to Fiorentina on an initial loan with a €20m (£17m) obligation, Palace refused to go away. According to the player’s agent, Sandro Martone, the Eagles matched that £17m package on the very morning Njie was walking into his medical examinations in Florence.
The money was right, and the Premier League project was right there on the table. But Njie had his heart set on La Violaand slammed the door shut on Palace to make the switch to Italy.
Florence Descends Into Chaos
Choosing Florence sounded glamorous at the time, but the dream has turned into an absolute nightmare in record-breaking fashion.
Fiorentina endured a disastrous start to the Serie A campaign, losing three straight matches. The board panicked, the axe swung, and manager Fabio Grosso the man who personally signed Njie was ruthlessly sacked on Monday after barely two months in the hotseat.
To make matters even more bizarre, Njie’s entire contribution under Grosso amounted to just 79 minutes on the pitch ironically coming in a 2-1 defeat against his former club, Torino. To top off the absolute circus, Fiorentina immediately turned around and re-appointed Paolo Vanoli, the exact manager they pushed out the door just months prior
Dodging a Deadline-Day Bullet
When Palace missed out on Njie, they quickly pivoted to Malick Fofana, only for that chaotic saga to collapse at the eleventh hour as well ending in a move to Sunderland amid squabbles over agent fees and medical concerns.
At the time, missing out on primary targets felt like a frustrating end to the window for Eagles fans watching the clock tick down. But seeing Njie walk straight into an Italian dumpster fire while Sage’s side starts building genuine momentum back in South London? Sometimes, getting rejected by a player turns out to be the biggest favour they could possibly do you.
