Jean-Philippe Mateta endured boos at Selhurst Park, a collapsed £30million AC Milan move due to medical issues, and a knee-injury setback. Now he’s back in form for Crystal Palace ahead of the Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano, with France calling
When Jean-Philippe Mateta was substituted during Crystal Palace’s 3-1 defeat by Chelsea in January. boos rolled around Selhurst Park like a verdict. Four months on. the same striker is now in Leipzig as Palace prepare for the Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano—where a win would seal a season of extraordinary comeback.
At the time, the frustration wasn’t only about that moment. The wider picture felt bleak. Nottingham Forest. Aston Villa. Juventus and AC Milan were all linked with moves after Mateta made it clear he wanted to leave. Palace’s season had already taken jolts: Marc Guehi had been sold to Manchester City days earlier. and Oliver Glasner had revealed he would leave Selhurst Park in the summer while slamming the club’s hierarchy. For supporters. the timing felt cruel. and the anger found its target in a striker who was supposed to be carrying the weight.
Then the Milan deal happened—and fell apart. A £30million transfer to AC Milan was agreed only for it to collapse on deadline day after issues emerged with Mateta’s medical. Last week. Mateta looked back on the derailment with the blunt honesty of someone who’s been through the kind of pressure that lingers.
“It wasn’t easy,” Mateta explained. “It was a lot of work. I worked with some beautiful people who helped me. You just have to believe in yourself.”
He had every reason to sound tired. Palace also moved decisively to reshape the forward line, pressing ahead with the club-record signing of Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves. The Norwegian arrived and made an immediate impact, scoring three goals in his first five league games.
While the new man started to settle. Mateta was working through something more personal: a knee injury that had dogged him over the winter months. He scored just once in 10 matches. and doubts followed him into the spring—whether he would need surgery. and whether the bridges with supporters could ever be rebuilt.
Nearly four months later, the picture looks different. Glasner gave Mateta a couple of weeks off after the failed Milan move to clear his head. Surgery was avoided. Instead, Mateta rested and underwent treatment. It took almost seven weeks before he was back in a matchday squad. making the bench for the last-16 clash against AEK Larnaca in mid-March.
When he returned, it wasn’t an instant forgiveness. Mateta came on in that AEK Larnaca tie, and again against Leeds a few days later, and he was booed both times—proof that the story wasn’t finished.
Then the turnaround started to look real. Mateta began scoring again, and the boos softened into something closer to recognition. He has five goals despite making only six starts. One of them came at the sharpest moment: a crucial penalty against Fiorentina in the quarter-final. As those key contributions piled up. Mateta re-established himself as a key man. edging out Strand Larsen in the pecking order. while supporters appeared to have forgiven him.
The resurgence also followed a familiar rhythm: once Mateta recovered from an injury-hit winter, he looked refreshed. Shortly after his return, he produced a match-winning brace against Newcastle.
The renaissance didn’t just stay within the Palace bubble. Last week, Mateta received a call-up to France’s World Cup squad alongside Palace team-mate Maxence Lacroix—a scenario that seemed unlikely when he missed the March international break.
“It means a lot of things,” Mateta said of his selection. “I don’t have the words. It’s a dream. Everyone dreams of playing at the World Cup and they called me. I hope we go there to win.
“I was just realistic. When I knew it was off with Milan, I knew I had to come back. When there was no surgery, I knew I had to come back earlier in my head and work hard. There was a new striker (Strand Larsen) at the club, so there was competition.
“It’s just football. I’m not the first to have this (a failed move) and I won’t be the last. I like pressure and I like that people thought it was finished when it was not.”
Around him, the people who shaped his return have been loud in their support. Glasner has publicly backed Mateta, praising his attitude, work-rate and record. Team-mates have echoed that message.
Brennan Johnson said last week: “When he came back in after his injury, he was the same. It felt like he hadn’t been away. It was the lift that the boys needed at the time.
“We were in a difficult space. But having him back, a top-class striker, it was always going to help the team. It was like it (the failed transfer) hadn’t even happened. As soon as he came back into the squad, he was so supportive of everyone.”
Glasner has also expressed pride in Mateta’s call-up, and for a player whose career had stalled in the toughest way—by being booed and then seeing a dream move collapse at the final hurdle—those endorsements have real weight.
Mateta’s Palace story began with uncertainty too. He joined from Mainz in 2021, scoring 11 times in his first 80 Premier League games. After Glasner’s appointment in February 2024, Mateta found another gear. In top-flight football since then, he has 39 strikes in 82 outings. He has also reached 50 Premier League goals, reclaiming the cult hero status that once seemed at risk.
Yet the redemption arc has never had a guarantee attached. His long-term future remains uncertain, with Daily Mail Sport previously reporting that Mateta is unlikely to extend his contract, which expires next year. That means he could still depart this summer.
If he does, the interest he faced in January doesn’t disappear. Milan remain interested in reviving their pursuit. though their recent upheaval—including the dismissal of Massimiliano Allegri and several senior executives—has complicated matters. Forest’s interest from January remains, and Mateta is understood to favour a move to Italy if he leaves.
For now, though, all that is waiting. Wednesday night comes first. Palace are in Leipzig. aiming to lift a third trophy in a year. and to give Glasner the farewell he has been promised all season. Mateta’s job is simple and brutal: fire the side against Rayo Vallecano. take Palace into the Europa League. and make sure the boos that haunted Selhurst Park four months ago become the kind of memory people tell as evidence of how far a career can bend back.
After one of the most difficult periods of his time at Palace, the coming months could become some of the finest—an outcome that turns a player who was booed off four months ago into a man carrying the club’s biggest night on his shoulders.
Jean-Philippe Mateta Crystal Palace Rayo Vallecano Conference League final Oliver Glasner Maxence Lacroix France World Cup squad AC Milan Nottingham Forest Aston Villa Juventus Jorgen Strand Larsen Marc Guehi Selhurst Park
So he’s good now? Cool I guess.
I’m confused… didn’t he already mess up like months ago with that Milan thing? Boos or not, I don’t trust a “comeback” story when managers are throwing people under the bus.
When it says “fired Palace toward European glory” that sounds like he’s personally sabotaging them into winning, lol. Also Leipzig? Thought Palace was in England. Maybe they’re “in” Leipzig like a training thing or something.
The boos at Selhurst Park always kill me. Like it’s his fault Forest and Villa and all those teams were circling him? And if Juventus were linked too, that just tells me it’s all politics. Conference League final vs Rayo Vallecano… I mean Rayo sounds like a Spanish IKEA brand or whatever, but hey if he’s scoring then whatever.