Crystal Palace have had a chance to catch their breath.

A three-week break between matches due to the latest international window and having been knocked out of the FA Cup early allowed manager Oliver Glasner to give players time off as a reward for progressing to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Conference League, even if the club’s 15 international call-ups were the joint-third highest anywhere across Europe’s top five major domestic leagues. 

Palace will hope to return to action re-energised. They have their sights on winning the Conference League to add to lifting last season’s FA Cup and the Community Shield back in August, and with eight league fixtures to go, a slim chance of topping last season’s Premier League points total of 53, which was their best ever in the competition. 

With relegation almost certainly not an issue as they hold a 10-point lead over third-bottom West Ham, attention will also turn to the summer, when the club must find themselves a new manager as well as embarking on another player recruitment drive. 

We asked for your questions on the big issues at Palace. Here, Matt Woosnam offers some answers. 

Nick S: Have you heard anything about our search for a new manager? I assume our summer window transfer business will depend on who we get in and how they want Palace to play?

One of Palace’s targets is Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola. He has caught the eye with the impressive job he’s done in three seasons on the south coast and fits Palace’s criteria. He is also on course to be out of contract in the summer, so his appointment would require no compensation to be paid to Bournemouth.

Whether Palace will be able to convince him to succeed Oliver Glasner may depend on what offers he receives from elsewhere — Iraola’s excellent body of work hasn’t only been noticed in south London — but winning the Conference League and so being able to dangle the carrot of a Europa League challenge next season could go some way to persuading him.

Whoever they bring in may mean a change in system, but the intention is not to find a manager who will have his team sit in a deep, low block. Instead, Palace are looking for someone who will play more on the front foot. That could result in returning to a back four from the current wing-back system.

The plan is to have a manager in place for the first day of pre-season training and, ideally, before the start of the World Cup in early June, to discuss transfer targets and to be as best prepared as possible for the new campaign.

It is likely that Glasner’s replacement is out of a job currently or will be by the summer, with Palace having not paid compensation to hire a manager from another club since Steve Parish became chairman in 2010. However, that is not to say that if the right option became available, they would be unwilling to spend money to get them.

There would also be sense in considering former Brentford and Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank, who is available after being sacked by the latter in February after just eight months in the job.

Neil P: Would you expect the squad investment to focus on central midfielders and forwards over the summer with probably Daichi Kamada and possibly Adam Wharton going and uncertainty over Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah?

Justin C: 
What’s the plan for squad evolution this summer? Is it more likely we look to sell Adam Wharton and Maxence Lacroix this summer or next? 

Darren L: How constrained will Palace’s spending be, given the recent winter-window splurge?

Some of the summer recruitment will definitely depend on whether there are departures and the money received as a result. There will be a slight shift towards younger talent and value, rather than the more established types bought in mid-season during the previous window.

The plan, as stated by Parish during his interview with The Athletic in December, is to build a recruitment department at Palace, rather than rely too heavily on a specific sporting director. That said, Matt Hobbs, who replaced Dougie Freedman in the role last summer on an initial short-term basis, is set to continue for a longer period and will be part of that set-up.

Palace will not want to lose too many players, but Adam Wharton would command a significant transfer fee which could then be reinvested in the squad, in the same way as when Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze were sold in the two previous summers.

Should Wharton make the England squad for the World Cup and impress in that tournament, then his value and interest will only rise, which may tempt Palace to cash in. But there is no necessity to sell him this summer, especially with his contract running until the end of the 2028-29 season. A transfer is an inevitability at some point, though, and would enable a squad rebuild.

Elsewhere, Jefferson Lerma is out of contract in June but Palace hold an option to extend his stay by a year, and that is likely to be triggered. 

They will look to secure a buyer for Jean-Philippe Mateta, who is about to enter the final year of his contract and whose move to Italian giants Milan late in the winter window collapsed due to a knee problem. That would offset some of the £43million ($57.4m at the current rate) initial fee paid to Wolves at that time for fellow striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Maxence Lacroix’s call-up to, and strong debut for, the French national team over this international break may spark interest in him, but he is a mainstay of the Palace defence and they will not look to have too much turnover in such an important area of the team, especially after selling Marc Guehi to Manchester City in January.

Maxence Lacroix impressed on his first call-up for France (Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

If the next manager prefers a back four, then Lacroix and Chris Richards provide an excellent first-choice pairing, with two younger defenders with plenty of potential as cover in Jaydee Canvot and Chadi Riad.

But that possible formation is less likely to suit Daniel Munoz, whose talent as a wing-back is outstanding but who will face more questions over his defensive ability as a full-back. He also turns 30 next month. If Palace are able to secure a good fee for him, perhaps helped by a strong World Cup for Colombia, it is not inconceivable that he may leave.

Palace will target another forward and at least one midfielder, but with those options at centre-back, they are probably unlikely to move for any additional players there and have no concerns in goal.

The focus will be higher up the pitch.

Having paid £43million for Strand Larsen and £35m for Brennan Johnson in the previous window, as well as potentially adding current loanee Evann Guessand for £30m, Palace will not aim to spend lavishly this summer unless circumstances dictate and there are significant outgoing transfers.

Adrian F: Is it your view that the club are likely to boost the role of their academy within the job description of the next manager? What is the point of the academy otherwise?

The academy remains integral to Palace’s long-term plan to become more sustainable, but it is unlikely to be something specifically stipulated when hiring the new manager.

Glasner has not prioritised bringing through young talent, with his focus on players who were all at the same level of ability, and while they won’t hire someone in who deliberately overlooks their academy kids, it won’t be a deciding factor in the recruitment process.

There have been breakthroughs for youngsters this season, mostly in the Conference League as Palace endured their unavailability crisis over December and January, but the focus will be on securing good loan moves away to ensure senior football at a relatively early stage of these players’ careers.

Palace need to develop more players who will either become valuable squad options at a lower wage cost, in the style of Justin Devenny, or to the point where they are a supplementary source of income with decent sums commanded to move elsewhere — likely to teams in the Championship.

Youngsters must be given an opportunity but the gap between age-group football and the Premier League is significant, which is why loans for these players are so often favoured.

If academy graduates who are considered good-enough talents are getting overlooked by the manager, then that’s a problem.

Chris C: What’s going on with the new stand? Also, can you help fans understand how Palace went from being this hyper-efficient chance-creation machine to …whatever we are now?

The Main Stand redevelopment is not quite as advanced as it was hoped it would be at this point, with little visible sign of movement since the enabling works began and the club’s offices were moved to the former Crystals nightclub location in the Whitehorse Lane Stand in the preliminary phase.

Palace are making slow progress on redeveloping Selhurst Park’s Main Stand (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

However, everything needed for work to begin is in place and the houses in Wooderson Close which are to be demolished as part of the project have been purchased and boarded up. Some logistical matters are still being dealt with but the intention remains that demolition will begin at the end of the season, with temporary hospitality set up in the stadium car park.

Regarding your second question, this is something The Athletic covered in a recent article.

Tom G: Do our three very wealthy owners have any ambitions for the club that aren’t Parish’s, or do they purely defer to him for all club matters? Are their ambitions also only about maintaining Premier League status?

The owners are in frequent contact with each other but Parish, as the executive chairman, is responsible for the day-to-day running of the club and is the primary decision-maker. He has an especially strong relationship with David Blitzer and Josh Harris.

Their first aim is to maintain Premier League survival, as it is for most clubs of Palace’s size and stature. Relegation would be catastrophic, so it must be avoided. But that is not the limit of the club’s ambitions: the FA Cup win, and subsequent participation in Europe, was a real cause for celebration and the intention would be to repeat that success.

They believe that comes through gradual, incremental progress which does not put the club’s top-flight status or future at risk. As always, it is a delicate balance.