Sage has caught the eye of other Premier League clubs looking for a manager capable of coping with better-resourced rival clubs who enjoy a lot of possession. Lens lost just three games at their Stade Bollaert-Delelis last season. In the defeat by champions Paris St-Germain last month, Lens accumulated a 2.87 expected goals metric on only 38 per cent possession. Under Sage, Lens comfortably outperformed their Ligue 1 wage bill – ranked around eighth or ninth – to gain Champions League qualification.
Palace will have to cope with a greater demand on the squad in terms of the quality of their opponents in Thursday night games in the Europa League.
Sage was an amateur footballer in France and had a slow-burning career as a coach, first in development football. He came to prominence when he was promoted at Lyon to caretaker manager. Ironically, that decision was made by John Textor, the former Lyon president who was also a shareholder in Palace. It was his failure to divest his Palace shares in time last year that led to the Uefa multi-club ownership sanction for the London club last summer.
Sage had been director of Lyon’s prodigious talent-factory academy when he was made interim first-team manager in November 2023, with the team bottom of the league. The team went through an extraordinary turnaround to finish sixth. By the end of the season he had been made a permanent appointment and had led the team to Europa League qualification. He was sacked in January 2025, the following season, and Lens appointed him that summer on a three-year deal.
Palace have explored other options. Andoni Iraola, the erstwhile Bournemouth manager, was interested in a move to Selhurst Park, but the offer of the Liverpool job – when Fenway Sports Group changed its mind about Arne Slot – became too powerful to ignore. Thomas Frank, the former Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur manager, was also a strong contender.
As ever, Premier League status is not taken for granted, although Palace’s forthcoming 14th consecutive season in the top flight means they are currently on the longest unbroken run in the division after the so-called big six, and Everton.