Signed on an 18-month loan deal in January 2021, Jean-Philippe Mateta wrote his name into Palace folklore with a sensational backheel nutmeg against Brighton & Hove Albion. His performances then earned him a four-and-a-half-year deal in January 2022.
Paris-born Mateta had impressed in the Bundesliga for Mainz with 10 goals in 17 appearances across all competitions in 20/21. He moved to south London as the German side's top scorer.
He began his professional career in the French third-tier, before making a major move to seven-times champions Lyon. After excelling on loan with Le Havre, Mateta moved to Mainz, where he established himself as a regular in the German top-flight, scoring 27 goals in 71 games in total, including a hat-trick against SC Freiburg during this campaign.
On the international stage, Mateta was part of the France side that reached the last four of the Under-21 European Championships in 2019, scoring the opening goal in the semi-final.
Mateta was born in the Sevran suburb of Paris, the youngest of seven children. He began playing for a club out of town from the age of 14, spending hours travelling from home each day to make training.
Unlike many young French players, Mateta’s formative years were not spent in the development centre of a major club; instead, he did it the hard way.
After impressing in a trial with then third-division side Châteauroux, he left home for good aged 17 and embarked on the journey to professional football.
Having impressed at Châteauroux with 16 goals in 27 first-team appearances, Mateta secured a big move to title challengers Lyon.
However, his first-team minutes were limited in a frustrating season, with three appearances to his name. When the chance of a loan move and first-team football came knocking, he took it.
Signing for second division Le Havre, Mateta scored 17 league goals to power his new side towards promotion. In the play-off semi-finals, he scored twice in a 2-2 draw before they were knocked out via penalty shoot-out.
It was at Le Havre that Mateta was able to showcase his eye for goals. “You’re born a striker,” he said. “You are born and greedy for goals. Even as a little boy, I wanted to score, save my team, score the winning goal in close matches and be the one whose name is roared by the fans.”
Attracting attention in Germany, Mateta moved to Mainz for a club-record fee, and found himself back at the top level of European football. Having grown up playing on the streets of Paris, he didn’t let the higher intensity scupper his development:
“If you have learned to play football on the street, you automatically become a fighter,” he told German media.
“Wherever I ended up in my career, there were almost always guys who I thought: ‘They have more comprehensive football training, they are more technically complete, they can do this and that better than me.’ But the point always came when I said to myself: ‘I’m going to destroy it all the more.’
“I was more hungry.”
Having settled in south London, Mateta earned the favour of Palace fans with his first ever goal - a backheel flick - coming in a 1-2 victory away at Brighton. He also netted against local rivals Millwall, knocking the Lions out of the FA Cup in 2021/22.
These efforts earned him a four-and-a-half-year deal on deadline day in January 2022.
Upon Roy Hodgson's return, Mateta netted a dramatic stoppage-time winner against Leicester City to spark one of the great Selhurst Park celebrations.
