‘One or two’ - Crystal Palace coach reveals further loan exits are on the horizon

Crystal Palace U21s manager Paddy McCarthy has revealed more players are likely to head out on loan before the end of the January transfer window. The Eagles are keen for some of their youngsters to get some first-team experience.

They have a whole host of individuals currently having temporarily spells away such as Scott Banks, Killian Phillips, Luke Plange, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Malcolm Ebiowei and John-Kymani Gordon, among others. More will now follow suit over the course of the next week before the deadline.

McCarthy, who spent eight years at Crystal Palace during his playing days, has told the club website: “We’ve had a lot of growth using the loan market. There may be a couple more going out this month as well - ones who we believe will benefit from that and grow from the challenge of a loan move.”

He added: “January is a unique month now, in terms of the transfer window - at any given time any player can be called upon. We’ll look at every individual case on merit and I imagine there might be one or two going out on loan, if the right club comes calling. We’re confident that the guys below can take the mantle of the lads that go out.

“We’ve managed to get a lot of lads out to decent league clubs in terms of Jes [Rak-Sakyi] and Banksy [Scott Banks] and everyone behind them has stepped up to the plate. We’re confident that we can do that again with the next wave of players coming through.”

The Eagles have an impressive academy set-up and will be hoping their current batch of prospects can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Tyrick Mitchell over the next few years. First of all, the priority is to show what they can do out on loan.

In other Crystal Palace news, former midfielder Joe Ledley has revealed he had offers from abroad when he left back in 2017. He has told the club website: “I had offers from Turkey, other places in Europe and Asia. But I just didn’t really fancy it – I know it probably would’ve suited the way I play football but I’d only just turned 30 and I really thought I could still do a job in the Premier League.”