The 64 minutes that proved Jesurun Rak-Sakyi can have a Premier League future

At half-time in Crystal Palace’s 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat by Manchester United last month, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi must have felt his chance had passed him by.

Named in the starting line-up for only the fifth time and with Palace’s attacking options limited by a thin squad and a growing injury crisis, a strong performance that night at Old Trafford would have put him firmly in manager Roy Hodgson’s plans.

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Instead, he was scarcely involved, overrunning one opportunity to lead a break midway through the first half and otherwise struggling to make any impact against Sofyan Amrabat, United’s makeshift left-back. He was not the only one to have a difficult half, but at the break he was the player hooked by Hodgson. Marc Guehi replaced him and Palace moved to a back five, with Nathaniel Clyne shifting to wing-back.

It was a test of Rak-Sakyi’s character. How would he now react, given this had been such a golden opportunity to show he was capable of affecting games against Premier League opposition?

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The answer came on Saturday against Nottingham Forest, when the 21-year-old again found himself a beneficiary of injury problems as Jeffrey Schlupp became the latest Palace player to succumb to a muscular issue, hobbling off after 26 minutes.

It would have been easy for Rak-Sakyi to allow himself to be scarred by that cup-tie experience, and overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to lift Palace to an unlikely result in the face of a crippling injury crisis.

But this is a player who is not easily daunted. Rak-Sakyi has impressed Palace’s staff and team-mates in training with his performances, application and his character. There is an eagerness to learn, demonstrated by his decision to take French lessons while on loan with Charlton Athletic in League One last season given his ambition to play for Ghana, with a number of their squad either born in France or now with clubs there. There has never been any question of allowing his early Premier League involvement — his debut actually came in August 2021, at Chelsea — to think he had ‘made it’.

Understandably there were a a few nerves in the early stages on Saturday, but once he had the chance to run at Forest’s left-back Harry Toffolo he gained confidence.

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Toffolo looked afraid of the tall, skinny winger with clever feet and good close control. None of his team-mates had managed to create such panic in the visitors’ back line and by the end of the afternoon, no player on either team could surpass Rak-Sakyi’s tally of dribbles (five) and successful dribbles (three).

As his confidence grew, so did that of his colleagues in him. Joachim Andersen looked to release the youngster every time an opening presented itself to give him space to run into, mostly at Toffolo, who found it difficult to handle him. Guehi pointed to him as Palace’s best player. That sort of endorsement will only help him further.

Rak-Sakyi was stepping into the space created by injuries to Michael Olise and then Schlupp. Providing the same impact as Olise would be too much to ask, but this was his most encouraging showing yet. The step up from the third tier with Charlton to the Premier League is a significant one, but the only way he will bridge it is with continued exposure to challenging match situations.

“He’s got this ability, a bit like Michael Olise has — they’ve got magical feet, and they’re very clever at manipulating the ball,” Hodgson said. 

A loan to a club in the Championship this season might have been the ideal situation, but Hodgson made it clear he was intent on keeping the then 20-year-old around as part of his squad. He refused to be critical after that cup defeat and reassured him that he was not being judged on the performance and hadn’t missed his chance, while he was impressed after the draw with Forest. He stated his belief that being sent out on too many loans carries a risk of the player concerned being “forgotten”. 

“I had to fight with him a little bit, to persuade him that if he really wants to be a Premier League player he is in the best place and chances will come,” Hodgson added. “Today he got that chance and I think he took it extremely well.” 

Olise needed time to become a more rounded player and to improve his defensive work, and it will be the same for Rak-Sakyi, but he did not shirk that responsibility against Forest.

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His touch map below underlines how he was happy to drop back into his own half, and at one point he chased Anthony Elanga down the line, dispossessing him before winning a free kick when carrying the ball out of defence. That, too, pleased his manager.

“When you’ve got wingers, talented wingers, that is one of the things you ask questions about: is he going to be good on the ball for those few moments he’s got it, but also what is he going to be like when we’re working hard to stop them doing something with it?,” Hodgson said.

Hodgson described a learning curve, and adapting to the tension of the Forest game having entered it in a difficult period as being the perfect lesson for Rak-Sakyi. He had successfully navigated a potentially awkward match, helping his club enter the October international break ninth in the table despite that lengthy injury list. There was also mention of having to shoulder the burden, given the absence of attacking support around him.

Palace have been blessed in the past with young wingers who have burst onto the scene with rapid improvement, establishing themselves almost immediately. That might lend itself to heightened expectations, but Rak-Sakyi is grounded and will cope with that. 

In any case, it takes time for most players around his age to develop to the point where they are starting more frequently.

What Rak-Sakyi is capable of remains unclear, particularly given he has played only 151 Premier League minutes, but he has shown enough to indicate that this level is not beyond him. 

It would be a stretch to suggest he has fully grasped his opportunity — the final moment never quite arrived on Saturday — but this performance will have done his cause no harm.

(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

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