Patrick Vieira makes his stance on Jesurun Rak-Sakyi's Crystal Palace future clear

Published on: 23 May 2022

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira would consider letting Ghanaian youngster Jesurun Rak-Sakyi go out on loan in the summer but has no intention of selling him.

The 19-year-old made his first start for Palace in their 1-0 win over Manchester United on the final day of the 2021/22 English Premier League season.

Rak-Sakyi, who made his club debut in the first game of the season when he was brought on as a substitute during the 3-0 loss against Chelsea lasted for 67 minutes before he was replaced by Cheikhou Kouyaté.

"He (Jesurun Rak-Sakyi) played two games against Chelsea and United, so it has been challenging and difficult," Patrick Vieira said after the game.

"But he showed some quality, and he is a really promising young talent.

"We have to create that kind of pathway for those young players to play more minutes. In the next couple of days and weeks, we will have some decisions to make regarding his future, of course."

Rak-Sakyi has been shortlisted for  Premier League 2 Player of the Season following his impressive display for Crystal Palace's Under-23 team.

He propelled Palace to finish 5th in the Premier League 2 Division 1, their first campaign in the top-flight of Academy football, winning February’s PL2 Player of the Month award.

He scored incredible 18 goals from 25 appearances throughout 2021/22, making him joint-top scorer with Manchester City’s James McAtee.

He collected the Player of the Season award from Under-23s assistant manager Darren Powell at the club’s free-to-attend awards night.

Though Rak-Sakyi is also eligible to represent Ghana through his parents, he accepted a call-up to the England U20 team in September 2021 to replace an injured Anthony Gordon.

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