Not up for the Premier League? Crystal Palace are better off without signing this 23-year-old No. 9

Crystal Palace Opinion: Eagles should avoid signing Rafael Santos Borre

According to claims from Marca Claro, Crystal Palace are interested in signing Colombian striker Rafael Santos Borre from River Plate.

The same report claims that the 23-year-old forward has impressed Palace’s scouts in Argentina and the Eagles have shortlisted him as a potential target in the summer.

A youth product of famous Colombian club Deportivo Cali, Rafael Santos Borre rose to prominence with his boyhood club before being snapped up by La Liga giants Atletico Madrid. However, the Colombian failed to make the grade at Atletico and spent time on loan at his former club and Villarreal before being sold to River Plate.

Santos Borre scored 4 goals for Villarreal but that apparently wasn’t enough to impress Atletico to keep him for another season. Borre, though, has rediscovered his form in the Argentine Primera Division, registering 4 goals and 2 assists from 17 appearances. A former youth international for Colombia, the 23-year-old is yet to earn a cap at the senior international level, which can be considered as a red flag in his development curve.

Borre is a fast, agile and pacey striker who can be deceptive with sudden bursts of pace and ability to sneak in behind the backline. To go with his pace and trickery and on the ball, the Colombian is a good passer who has the ability to find his teammates in the final third with perfectly weighted through balls.

However, as evident from his record, he is not consistent enough and his composure in front of goal leaves a lot to be desired at times. Borre is the sort of striker who has a couple of good games followed by a long goal drought.

The Colombian can be a treat to watch when he is at his best but he doesn’t deliver such performances often enough to thrive in Europe. To sum it up, Borre is certainly a talented striker but he needs to work on the rough edges in his game to make an impact at the highest level.

To put things into perspective, it would not be a good idea for Crystal Palace to invest in the talented South American forward.

First of all, he failed to make much of an impact on his previous spell in Europe and he won’t be much of an upgrade on their existing attacking options.

Secondly, very few unknown South American strikers have thrived in the Premier League. In Wilfred Zaha and Andros Townsend, the Eagles already have plenty of pace and power in their attack, and Borre would not add anything extra to the squad.

Palace need to bring in a prolific striker who can also hold up the ball with his physicality and link up with the likes of Zaha and Townsend. Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham have struggled for form and fitness since the start of the last season and Hodgson needs to bring in a proven talent to provide cover and competition for the lacklustre duo.

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With that being said, the Eagles certainly need to add more firepower to their attack in the summer to challenge for a top-ten finish in the Premier League next term but they should forget about Borre and look at options elsewhere.