Crystal Palace are one of several clubs interested in signing Rav van den Berg during the winter transfer window.
Van den Berg, who plays for Middlesbrough FC at central defender and right fullback, has been noticed due to his excellent play for the Championship side, according to Football Insider.
Rav van den Berg
Middlesbrough FC won the race to sign the young Dutch phenomenon while he was playing for PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands at eighteen years old. Since he made the move to Teeside, van den Berg has shown he can keep up with some of the best attackers in the Championship.
Unfortunately for the player, he has been plagued by injuries in the year and a half he’s been at Middlesbrough FC. Despite these issues, he wowed the Middlesbrough fans enough that he won the Middlesbrough Player and Young Player of the Season award as well as the Middlesbrough Supporters’ Club Player of the Season award.
Crystal Palace Face Difficult Battle
Since he arrived, Oliver Glasner has not been shy of his desire to sign van den Berg. Nevertheless, Middlesbrough FC have been very firm in their stance that they are not in a mood to sell him or other excellent young talents on the squad such as Hayden Hackney or Emmanuel Latte Lath.
Kieran Scott, director of football at Middlesbrough FC, has stated that owner Steve Gibson has been very clear that Middlesbrough, “can’t sell their talent if we want to go up”.. Middlesbrough are keen on trying to get promoted, but Crystal Palace, among others, want to see if that stance is actually true.
If the Premier League side do capture hissignature, they would instantly get a huge boost to a back line that has been severely lacking punch and spine. He has been exceptional especially when it comes to timely tackles and retaining possession.
However, Middlesbrough have their own ambitions of taking the step up to the Premier League. One only has but to look at the summer transfer window to see that the club are keen to follow the ambitions that Steve Gibson has. With this being the case, it feels like a reach to automatically assume that Crystal Palace will come close to capturing van den Berg unless their Championship counterparts are completely out of the playoff picture in January.
Anyone who has watched the player can see why clubs are interested. Many of their fans would likely be gutted if this happened. It could feel like a ‘typical’ Middlesbrough move to move on their young talent, but this new iteration of the club feels more ambitious and ready to stand firm against advances from bigger clubs. Only time will tell if this interest comes to fruition.