Crystal Palace star beefed by Birmingham City amid struggles after £15m Millwall move

Crystal Palace star Romain Esse was in action for the outfit’s under-21 side against Birmingham City under-21 in the Premier League 2 on Monday evening and turned in a purring performance.

The 20-year-old, who arrived at Selhurst Park from Millwall on a £14.5 million deal in January, dictated play in a hugely influential outing. Crystal Palace won the match 3-1 with Esse involved in every goal, having netted the first himself with a sublime strike on the edge of the box.

Reporting on the match on social media platform X, the Birmingham City Academy account appeared to land a sly dig at the first team star’s involvement. After his strike, the account wrote: “£12m man Romain Esse curls in an absolute beauty to open the scoring. Some finish to be fair.”

Romain Esse impresses against Birmingham City in Premier League 2

Speaking after the match Birmingham City under-21 boss Mark Kennedy praised Esse’s display, and admitted he didn’t know the transfer fee the winger had commanded earlier this year. He said: “First goal is a final third entry for us where we give up the ball too easy. Unfortunately for us, the lad who scored the first goal for them is a £15 million player. I thought he was really, really good. I didn’t know [about his fee] until after, when someone pointed it out to me.”

It’s been a tricky transition to life at Crystal Palace for Esse, who has not hit the ground running in the same way as previous EFL acquisitions such as Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Adam Wharton. Nonetheless, in an update today, Sky Sports report that Oliver Glasner and the club still back the youngster.

Crystal Palace back youngster after £14.5 million move

The update read: “Palace have been impressed by the manner in which Esse has conducted himself despite a clearly challenging start to life at the club. He has impressed with his application, and there are no questions about his attitude.”

Esse scored on his Premier League debut against Brentford in January and registered an assist against Wolves in his only start last season. Speaking after the Brentford game, teammate Dean Henderson said: “I’m delighted for him to get off the mark in this first game. he looks a bright spark and hopefully there are many more to come.”

The winger has made a total of 11 appearances for Crystal Palace but has just 69 minutes with the first team so far this season. Esse is a product of the Millwall academy and spent a total of 11 years with the club before making the move to south London. In September, Glasner said that Esse had been left out of the matchday squad to face West Ham. When asked why, the Eagles boss said: “It's easy to answer, because I think the other players are in better shape.”

In other news, European giants 'looking concretely' at Crystal Palace star amid Liverpool transfer interest.