Five Facts About Nigerian Striker Who May Debut Against Manchester United

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson labelled Freddie Ladapo an unknown quantity during his press conference ahead of Saturday afternoon's Premier League tie at Old Trafford.

Ladapo has his biggest opportunity to date to make his debut for Crystal Palace, with a number of their first-teamers ruled out of the trip to M16 0RA due to injuries.

Here are five facts about the 24-year-old striker :

1) Born in Romford in East London, his full names are Olayinka Fredrick Oladotun Ladapo.

2) Ladapo is eligible to represent the national teams of Nigeria and England but has pledged allegiance to the Super eagles, having trained with the Nigeria U20s at their get-together in Bisham Abbey before the 2011 Fifa U20 World Cup.

3) He was playing in the sixth-tier of English football for Margate before he was acquired by Crystal Palace in March 2016 following a successful trial, in which he scored a hat-trick against Watford U23s.

4) Ladapo has yet to make his Crystal Palace bow in the Premier League, but has been included in their match day squads against Huddersfield, West Brom and Tottenham Hotspur since joining the club.

5) He is topping the goalscoring charts for Crystal Palace U23s with four goals, having found the net against Bristol City, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest this season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : cpfc.co.uk