The Breakdown: What Palace’s new January signings will bring

Brennan Johnson, Evann Guessand and, last but certainly not least, Jørgen Strand Larsen all signed up to give a significant boost to Oliver Glasner’s squad.

All three are attackers, yet all three also bring different qualities to the Eagles’ ahead of what promises to be a busy second-half of the season.

Let’s take a dive into some of the key features of their play…

Brennan Johnson

Palace’s first signing of the window has already got his first month of action under his belt.

And although it’s early days in the start of his South London journey, Johnson has brought direction and energy to the team.

In his last game against former club Nottingham Forest no player made more crosses in the 90 minutes than Johnson.

Although he is yet to score in red and blue, the winger has developed a reputation for finding the net in recent seasons – developing one finish in particular as something of a trademark.

During his time at Tottenham, Johnson scored seven of his first 14 club goals with a similar finish, converting a low cross from the left with the Wales international arriving at/from the back post for a one-touch finish.

It’s the type of finish that requires expert timing and understanding with teammates, something that will only grow in the coming months.

But his goalscoring is not limited to that type of finish.

A classic example is perhaps his most famous goal so far, the winner in last season’s Europa League final, when Johnson occupied a classic centre-forward position – before using clever movement to out manoeuvre defenders at the front post.

He also brings a versatility. Although regularly deployed wide on the right wing, the right-footed forward is capable of playing anywhere across the front line.

His first two starts in the 2025/26 season for Spurs actually came on the left of a front three, with Johnson scoring in both games.

At international level, he has previously been deployed centrally for Wales, with three of his seven goals to date at senior level coming when he played that position.

Evann Guessand

Like fellow signings Johnson and Strand Larsen, Guessand comes ready made for the Premier League having spent the last six months at Aston Villa.

Physically imposing with decent ability in the air, on first glance you might expect Guessand to flourish as a central striker. But although the Ivory Coast international has played there throughout his professional career – and in-behind the striker – playing wide on the right is his most common position over the last two seasons.

Guessand has featured on the right wing 52 times in his club career to date, with 68 appearances coming as a central forward. Yet his goal and assist breakdown is remarkably similar in either position.

Guessand has scored 14 goals each from both positions, while he has two more assists (nine) as a centre forward than as a right winger (seven).

Playing slightly deeper also allows him to utilise one of his key traits, running at defenders, a common theme of his game.

Guessand made 49 successful dribbles in 30 starts in Ligue 1 last season, up from 24 the previous year.

The 24-year-old is also efficient in the final third, shown by the fact he outperformed both his xG (expected goals) and xA (expected assists) for Nice last season.

Guessand scored 12 league goals, from an xG of 9.18 and created another eight, from an xS of just 5.29.

Jørgen Strand Larsen

A tall, powerful centre-forward, Strand Larsen has efficiently shown throughout his senior career so far that he knows where the goal is.

As he revealed in his first Palace TV interview, the Norwegian’s favourite type of goal, “is a tap-in.” But he’s also capable of the spectacular – check out his sensational bicycle kick for FC Groningen against SC Cambuur if you’re in doubt.

Breaking down his finishes from last season, he scored eight with his right foot, three with his left, and three headers – with three of those right-footed efforts coming directly after counter attacks.

Since his arrival in England at the start of 2024/25, Strand Larsen is another to have outperformed his xG – 15 goals to date from an xG of 13.32.

Rather than play as a poacher, purely waiting on the last line for an opportunity in-behind the defence, Strand Larsen likes to cover ground and do his share of defensive work.

Last season, he made 42 defensive recoveries and 10 final third possession turnovers. His heat maps regularly show a player willing to get through plenty of work to win the ball back.

And finally – as you might expect – the 6’4 forward is a major threat in the air. Over the last two seasons he has won 110 aerial duels in 57 starts, with only two non-defenders in the Premier League having won more during that time.

A player capable of scoring all types of goals combined with energy and aerial power – Strand Larsen will, like Johnson and Guessand, brings serious pedigree to the Eagles’ attack.

Check out our first interviews with all the January signings below;

• Brennan Johnson
• Evann Guessand
• Jørgen Strand Larsen