FEATURED: Three players that Crystal Palace could sign to help with WSL transition | OneFootball

Crystal Palace are set to write a new chapter in their history in 2024/2025 when the club enjoy their debut season in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

The Eagles were the Barclays Women’s Championship title winners this season. While the South Londoners thoroughly deserved their promotion, the club’s next assignment is a challenge on a completely different level.

If Crystal Palace are to be competitive in the Barclays Women’s Super League, they will need to sign players with plenty of top flight experience. Here are three free agents that could make a positive impact for a club like Crystal Palace next season.

Veatriki Sarri

Greek international midfielder Veatriki Sarri knows all about the step up from the second tier to Barclays Women’s Super League level. She made the jump from second tier football with Sheffield United to top tier football with Birmingham City in 2021. Sarri has spent three-and-a-half years playing her football in the Barclays Women’s Super League both with the Blues and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Sarri left Brighton & Hove Albion at the end of this season. With 62 top flight appearances to her name, Sarri boasts the kind of experience that a club like Crystal Palace need going into their maiden Barclays Women’s Super League campaign. She would be a great addition to Laura Kaminski’s squad.

Ellie Brazil

Another player who is on the free market this summer is former England youth international forward Ellie Brazil. The 25-year-old is ready for a fresh start off the back of a frustrating two-year spell with Tottenham Hotspur. Brazil’s first campaign in North London was disrupted by an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury while the player struggled for regular minutes at Spurs this term.

Other than a short spell in Italy with Fiorentina, Brazil has spent all of her eight-year senior career playing in the English top flight. She particularly impressed during a four-year stay at Brighton & Hove Albion where she helped to establish the club in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Brazil needs to reset and get back on track after that tough period at Spurs and the project at Crystal Palace has similarities to the one that she worked on at Brighton & Hove Albion. The player is likely to have interest from a club at the higher end of the Barclays Women’s Championship but she is better than that; when on form, she can be a force in a Barclays Women’s Super League side.

Ria Percival

After starring for Crystal Palace during a loan spell in the second half of this season, it would be no surprise to see New Zealand international legend Ria Percival join the club on a permanent basis this summer. The 34-year-old is now a free agent after leaving parent club Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace know exactly what they’d be getting if they were to re-sign the player.

At the age of 34, Percival’s international days are over, however, she has plenty of club football left in her legs, as she proved during her loan stint in South London this season. Percival joined Crystal Palace on loan in the January transfer window and she went on to make 13 appearances for The Eagles in which she scored one goal. The player’s spell at Selhurst Park could have reignited the fire in her belly to keep on playing professional football for at least another season.

With well over 150 senior international caps to her name and with Percival having played club football across the globe, she has very much been there and done it. She may have one more challenge left in her and that might be to keep Crystal Palace in the Barclays Women’s Super League for more than one season. It’d be one of the most unsurprising moves of the summer if Percival was to return to Crystal Palace.

While six players left Crystal Palace following their promotion to the Barclays Women’s Super League, the club are yet to announce any new additions. The South Londoners’ transfer activity is expected to gather pace in the coming weeks.