Crystal Palace in the EFL: How is Julian Speroni getting on these days? | OneFootball

Being born in Argentina and growing up in the South American country, Julian Speroni started his career there before he was eyed by Dundee and brought to Scotland in 2001.

He impressed during his time north of the border, so much so that he generated interest from Italian giants Inter Milan who scouted him whilst in action for the Scottish top-tier side.

Unfortunately for the Argentine though, nothing came of that interest, though he remained one of the first names on the teamsheet and earned himself a move to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2004.

Quiz: Can you identify each of these 24 ex-Crystal Palace players just by looking at 3 clues?

1 of 24

Age now: 42 Signed from: Dundee Left for: Retired

Scott Dann Julián Speroni Damien Delaney Patrick van Aanholt

The fee paid for his services was reported to have been in the region of £750,000 – a deal that would prove to be a bargain for the Eagles who benefitted from his 15 years of service.

He didn’t enjoy the smoothest start to life in the English capital though, spending much of the early stages of his spell at the club behind Gabor Kiraly in the pecking order and only becoming one of the first names on the teamsheet at the start of the 2007/08 campaign.

The South American remained as the club’s first-choice shot-stopper throughout the rest of their stay in the Championship – and would have been delighted to have kept a clean sheet in the 2013 play-off final with Kevin Phillips’ penalty securing a 1-0 victory over Watford.

That win secured the Eagles’ promotion – and because he had a high amount of credit in the bank – he made 73 league appearances during his first two seasons in the top flight.

Unfortunately for him, his long spell between the sticks came to an end during the 2015/16 campaign when he was overtaken in the pecking order by Wayne Hennessey – and Alex McCarthy also arrived at the club during the summer of 2015 to make the Argentine’s life more difficult.

From then on, he was a fringe player at Selhurst Park but remained loyal to their cause and signed multiple contracts to prolong his stay in the capital.

His earlier contributions certainly weren’t forgotten by the Eagles when it was his time to leave the club in 2019, receiving a guard of honour, though it was unclear whether he would be retiring at that point.

In an interview with the South London Press last year, the 43-year-old admitted that the Covid-19 pandemic played a part in forcing him into retirement despite the fact he wants to carry on, and has taken a different path by going into coaching.

He was invited back to Palace to help out with the U23s and U18s during the time of the interview – and it will be interesting to see how he progresses in the next few years as a goalkeeping coach.