Roy in hunt for hitman like Vardy

ROY HODGSON has promised Crystal Palace fans he will sign a proven striker this summer, having seen previous attempts to cut corners backfire.

Palace have 42 points going into their game against Chelsea tonight, technically needing a point to be safe. Hodgson believes the club can go even higher next season with the right man to convert all the chances.

Last summer, he gambled £2.5million to make Jordan Ayew a permanent signing on the back of just one goal in 14 league starts while on loan from Swansea.

His nine goals this season have been useful, but with Norwich the only team to score fewer this term, it is a department Palace have to improve in. Hodgson, below, notes there are many examples of teams over-performing thanks to a prolific lead striker.

“What sort of striker do we want? My simple answer is we’d look for a good one and one with a proven goalscoring record, that would be rather nice,” Hodgson said.

“If you look at the teams doing rather well this year, you see Leicester and what Jamie Vardy does with the goals and how he has helped them along the way, and you look at Southampton with Danny Ings in particular.

“You are talking about two guys that everybody knows, not only are they good players but when they are in your team there will be some goals. “While I’m not prepared at the moment to talk about specific profiles, we are looking for good strikers because we haven’t taken as many of the chances we have created that I would like.”