Jaydee Canvot: The teenage talent filling the void left by Marc Guehi at Crystal Palace

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There was a league debut as a substitute at Brest in late September and, in January 2025, a first start at the age of 17. Toulouse pride themselves on a blend of youth and experience in their ranks, but this teenager was exceptional. Now, 18 months on and still only 19, Canvot has established himself as a regular Premier League starter with Crystal Palace. By the end of the month, he will hope to have started in a major European final, with the London club taking on Rayo Vallecano in the UEFA Conference League showpiece in Leipzig. Canvot, born in the suburb of Argenteuil in the north west of Paris, had arrived in south-west France back in 2021 after five years in Paris with AS Bondy, the club where Kylian Mbappe and William Saliba made their names. He had been schooled through the prestigious Clairefontaine elite performance centre, too. That is often billed as a finishing school for footballing talent, but graduates inevitably remain rough around the edges. Toulouse spied potential, not the finished article. “There was a game against Marseille, a big game and a derby match, and he made a mistake as a central midfielder in playing a pass which meant we lost the ball and then they scored,” Viktor Bezhani, Toulouse’s sporting director, tells The Athletic. “For him to make that mistake… well he was down on himself. “He was upset after the game and his team-mates tried to help him. But the next training session, he was completely fine. He understood that it’s part of the process and he’s going to make mistakes.” Canvot had the maturity to see such setbacks as a learning opportunity. He refused to allow things to fester. It was an error which, while detrimental, proved to be decisive in shaping his future as he was subsequently moved to centre-back where, ever since, he has thrived. “He played a game against RB Leipzig and, even though we lost very badly in that game in pre-season, in his first duel in the first five minutes, he completely flattened Lois Openda,” says Bezhani. “He almost wanted to mark his territory there and say: ‘This is me, you cannot get past this.’ “We were shocked. For the next 20 minutes, Openda was receiving the ball, playing back and not really going at him.” After that first senior start, a 1-0 win over Lens where he played as a midfielder, there was a run of 10 appearances with responsibility placed on him to feature first in midfield before he moved into defence. He started another five times before the end of the campaign, his influence growing with each display. There were two more at the start of this 2025-26 season before, after only 22 senior appearances, he joined Palace in a deal worth an initial €23million (£20m; $27m) with €3.5m in add-ons and a 15 per cent sell on. Toulouse, aware of the level of interest, sanctioned a move in the belief that Canvot would become an outstanding talent. There was interest from Aston Villa and RB Leipzig, as well as other clubs in Germany and Spain. But the project at Palace, coupled with the belief they would develop and place trust in a young player, was attractive. So, too, was the prospect of working with Oliver Glasner. If Canvot’s mistake in that early outing at Toulouse sounds familiar, then that is because he endured a similar rush of blood as he tried to find his feet in south London. The youngster was making his second appearance for his new club, against AEK Larnaca back in October, and a grind of a Conference League group game was still level. Then, six minutes into the second half, Canvot received a pass from goalkeeper Dean Henderson and immediately came under pressure from two Larnaca attackers. He hastily tried to find Marc Guehi, only to present the ball to Marcus Rohden. He, in turn, set it up Riad Bajic to score what proved to be the only goal of the evening. Nine minutes later, the centre-back was substituted. It has not been his only mistake of the season, but that same maturity and strong character have shone through. Canvot was not expected to play regularly this campaign. Palace anticipated him bedding in, settling into new surroundings and a demanding league, with the occasional cameo in the first team along the way. Instead, and particularly Guehi’s departure to Manchester City in January, he has become an integral part of the Palace defence. Canvot has been consistently excellent, too, undoubtedly benefiting from the reassurance provided by Maxence Lacroix at his side. Sources close to Canvot, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, have told The Athletic that the message from Glasner after that error was simple. It was part of his development. He has the quality. Now he only needs find his self-confidence. That has since come with regular minutes. “It’s natural when you do something, you have to talk to yourself,” Canvot said in a press conference before the second leg of Palace’s Conference League semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk. “I just say afterwards: ‘Keep working, don’t think I do everything bad or everything good. Just stay focused on the future because, in the past, you can’t change anything.’ “When the staff speak to me, I listen and I just learn.” Glasner reiterated his own message in that same press conference. “He made a few mistakes and we spoke about it,” he said. “But it’s part of development and progress. We are all worried about making mistakes, but they are just feedback. If you can take this for the future for learning, you will grow. Jaydee did this, growing as a person and a player.” Canvot’s development has been rapid. His fellow countrymen — Lacroix and Jean-Philippe Mateta — have helped him to settle, easing that transition. That growth has come as no surprise to Bezhani. “We knew he was a very talented,” he says. “He was someone with physical prowess and we knew he could cope at our level. When he first trained with the Toulouse first team, the head coach immediately was like: ‘Whoa, this kid at 17 can play right now with our team and hold his own in training.’ “He also evolved a lot, especially physically. He came in for pre-season and he was like Megatron (the Transformer). He was so, so strong. Sometimes he pulled his shorts a little bit higher, like Cristiano Ronaldo — he was a specimen. “There was one game in pre-season against Queens Park Rangers where he was playing as a central defender. He actually came on in the second half and, at some point, he just decided to take over the game and started dribbling past five or six players. He came all the way up the pitch, passed to the winger and then we created a chance. “Slowly, we started to realise he was becoming way too good for our level already. His steps were so, so fast, and that explains some of the mistakes that he makes. For a young man to go from playing 12 games as a starter at Toulouse, to then go into the Premier League and now play more games as a starter for Crystal Palace — those are huge steps, playing against the best players in the world. “Every game he was getting better. ‘Growing pains’, we called it here in Toulouse.” The learning curve has been sharp, but Canvot has taken it in his stride. Already, he is dominant in the air, with his aerial success rate and headed clearances of 3.7 per 90 putting him fifth among under-21 centre-backs who have played at least 900 minutes across Europe’s top five leagues this season. He is a very front-foot defender and aggressive in the tackle. The chart below shows his 8.0 ‘true’ tackles (tackles won, tackles lost and fouls committed while attempting a tackle) per 1,000 opposition touches is the highest rate among under-21 defenders. He is also eager to tackle, although is not always the strongest in the challenge. Canvot ranks second for progressive carries and fourth for passes into the final third. That is, however, influenced by having space ahead of him when he receives the ball out wide. He is comfortable operating high up the pitch, taking around 6.4 touches per game in the attacking third, and can play on both sides, as we can see from his position map below. Bezhani describes the change in position from midfield as being down to how much better Canvot is “when the pitch is in front of him”, and he was impressed by his ability to break the lines and carry the ball forward. “It’s all about improving, and Jaydee is one of the best examples,” Glasner said. “When he came, he had played 15 or 16 games as a starter. (He was) learning from everyone and always trying to improve. When it was time, he stepped up and played. “Now he is playing on an incredibly constant level. It’s credit to him because he had to do it. We are just supporting him.” Part of that progression came from studying Guehi, whom he describes as a “big brother”. While there are some similarities with their style, Canvot, who grew up desperate to play as much football as possible but less invested in watching the game, insists his priority is “to play like me” rather than emulate his former team-mate, whom he will come up against when Palace face Manchester City on Wednesday night.  Palace will be relieved that they have not missed Guehi as much as anyone might have feared, and delighted that Canvot has stepped out of his shadow to make his mark. The Frenchman has been on a rapidly rising trajectory, but there is much excitement for what is yet to come.  Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms