ALAN PARDEW ON WALES’ SECRET WEAPON

I’VE read Slaven Bilic in these pages and also marvelled at Dimitri Payet’s goal; we’ve seen Gareth Bale score one of his free-kicks and cause concern for every Englishman. But the player I want to talk about is Jonny Williams. His performance for Wales against Slovakia was the best I have seen from him since I’ve come back to Crystal Palace. That was the player they’ve been talking about! He’s had terrible injuries and a couple of loans, at Nottingham Forest and MK Dons, that didn’t really work out for him but he has real love from Selhurst Park and he was terrific on Saturday evening. When I sent Jonny (right) off to France, I told him: ‘I hope you find some form,’ because he is a lovely lad, the sort you want to do well. He smiles a lot, has excellent temperament and is popular around the training ground. I have a lot of people telling me to give him a chance. All my players, all my staff think the world of him. He knows this but I haven’t seen enough from him. I hope this was a corner-turning moment. I don’t know if he will play against England when Chris Coleman might need some more power in the central areas, but he can win free-kicks around the box for Gareth Bale to take advantage of. On his game, he can beat a player, drift past them. He has some nice touches and can bring a smile to the faces of our supporters, who all want to see a homegrown player doing well. The other day he certainly brought a smile to my face. All his good work for Palace came before I returned to the club but his play for Wales showed I definitely need to take another look at him when we return for the pre-season. He looked like a player and I am not the only one at my club who will be thrilled. MY STAFF and I have set up a ‘WhatsApp’ group so we can have instant feedback from matches we are watching and players we like. I’m not giving you any secrets but there is a player who has played already that I’ve scouted six times. He played well and as a manager you are thinking — please don’t play too well or everyone will be after you. You don’t want him sending out too many signals. We are all after a player who can make a difference — and at a good price. Too many good performances and it could be out of the price range. So you have mixed feelings when a player you’ve noticed delivers. I’m not saying any more.