Palace winger set to cut short Championship loan stay…but what will his next step be?.
Crystal Palace winger Malcolm Ebiowei will return early from his season-long loan at Oxford United when the January transfer window opens next weel, the South London Press understands.
The 21-year-old has been a non-factor in the Championship team’s league campaign, having been limited to just four substitute appearances since joining in August and has been absent from the squad since before the end of November.
His only meaningful appearances and only start came in the first two rounds of the EFL Cup.
So, while this development has been a formality rather than a surprise, the question is what happens next for the young right-winger? The South London club are still committed to Ebiowei until the end of the 2026-27 season after he arrived on a five-year deal free transfer from Derby in the summer of 2022.
Yet after making five senior appearances for the Eagles in the first half of the 2022-23 season, including three in the Premier League, Ebiowei’s three subsequent loan moves have resulted in decreasing levels of success in turn, having spent time at Hull City, RWD Molenbeek in Belgium, and now Oxford United.
Ebiowei is not alone in returning to Copers Cope in January, even if others were planned. Jack Wells-Morrison and Roshaun Mathurin will be reaching the end of their half-season loan deals in the National League.
Ex-Tottenham player Mathurin who performed well for Palace’s U21 side last year after joining the club, struggled to nail down a starting role at Hartlepool before fading from the first team – being an unused substitute since November and only making three starts in the league.
Wells-Morrison, 20, has been the clear winner in the gamble to move to Wealdstone for senior game time, starting in 15 of his 17 league appearances and twice in the FA Cup. The club and player will be eyeing up an EFL move for the second half of the season after he’s impressed during his first spell in senior football.
