Reverting to type: Palace boss Pulis linked to Simon Makienok purchase

Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis is targeting Brondby’s 6ft 7in striker Simon Makienok to lead the line at Selhurst Park next season.

Tabloid reports claim the 23-year-old Dane, who is rated at £4m by his current club, will be sold this summer if the Eagles match his valuation.

Bringing in a target man is a reversion to type for former Stoke City boss Pulis, as his Palace side are the Premier League’s lowest scorers. The Eagles, who have never stayed up in the modern era, are seven points above the drop, however, and now 14/1 with Coral to go down.

Palace’s top-scorer from their promotion campaign, Glenn Murray, hit 30 goals, but has spent much of this term sidelined by a knee ligament injury. In his previous job at the Potters, Pulis signed Peter Crouch – a player of similar height to Makienok – to spearhead his attack.

Morocco international Marouane Chamakh, a free transfer last summer from Arsenal, has led the way for Eagles goals this season with six in all competitions. Winger Jason Puncheon, signed permanently from Southampton in January following a loan spell in south London, is Palace’s joint top-scorer in the Premier League on five.

Capped six times at senior level by Denmark, Makienok has only netted for the Under-19s and Under-21s, but has 28 league goals for Brondby in 60 outings.
Previously linked with several unnamed French clubs, Russian outfit Terek Grozny and Fulham, he fits the Pulis striker mould perfectly.

Fellow Scandinavian and Norway’s left-sided player Jonathan Parr is on the books at Selhurst Park, but is out of contract this summer.

Palace can go within one more win of 40 points if they beat Aston Villa at home in their next assignment. Pulis is massively odds-on at 1/99 to keep the Eagles up for the first time in Premier League history.