Crystal Palace were on a tear towards the backend of the Premier League season this year as they won a seriously impressive six out of seven games, beating teams like Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester United along the way.
Unfortunately, the side effect of playing such brilliant football is that teams start to look at your best players, and that's no different for the Eagles.
Michael Olise, one of the most exciting wingers in the entire league, let alone at Palace, has consistently been touted for a move away over the last few weeks.
While he would be a huge loss, Steve Parish and Co might be able to bring in a perfect replacement, at least based on recent reports.
Crystal Palace transfer news
According to a recent report from Graeme Bailey, Raheem Sterling's name has been brought up in conversations between Palace and Chelsea over the potential transfer of Olise.
The report does not mention whether it would be a straight swap deal or a Sterling plush cash offer, but considering the Frenchman has a release clause worth £60m in his contract and the Englishman is valued at around €40m – £34m – by the CIES Football Observatory, it would likely be the latter.
It might not be so straightforward for the Eagles, though. The report mentions West Ham United as another interested party, as well as teams from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, although the winger has supposedly turned down a move to either of those leagues.
Couple that with his wages and things do seem unlikely. The winger currently takes home £325k-per-week, making him the sixth-highest earner in the whole Premier League.
It might not necessarily be a transfer that goes down well with fans to begin with, but if Parish and Co can bring in Sterling plus a sizeable fee for the 22-year-old, this could be a fantastic transfer, as the former Manchester City man has shown his quality in the past.
Why Sterling would be a good replacement
So, the first reason Sterling would be a great player to replace Olise is simple: his track record is remarkable.
In 549 games of senior football across his career, the 82-capped England international has scored 173 goals and provided 103 assists, meaning he has averaged a goal involvement every 1.9 games for his entire career.
In comparison, the former Reading gem has scored 23 goals and provided 39 assists in 163 games of senior football, which equates to a goal involvement on average every 2.6 games.
Senior Appearances
549
163
Goals
173
23
Assists
103
39
Goal Involvements per Match
0.50
0.38
The second reason why the former Liverpool gem would be a great replacement is his versatility.
Based on his career thus far, he would be able to fill in on the right in place of the Frenchman, on the left in place of Eberechi Eze, and even down the middle at times if Glasner wanted a different outlet for some games.
The third reason is that over the last ten years, the 5 foot 8 "monster", as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has only missed 41 games through injury, which is around four per season.
In contrast, the Palace prodigy has missed 21 games in the last two seasons alone, which could become a serious problem in the long term. As they say, availability is the best ability.
Lastly, while the four-time Premier League winner hasn't set the world alight over the last two seasons, he has still racked up a respectable 31 goals and assists in 81 games, suggesting that he could get back to his incredible best in the right environment and Oliver Glasner's Palace might be precisely that.
Ultimately, it looks as if Olise is going to leave Palace this summer, and with every transfer always being a gamble, bringing in a fee and a player with the track record of Sterling in one go seems like it could be a brilliant move from Parish and Co.
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