Back in 2014, Crystal Palace completed the under-the-radar signing of Martin Kelly from Liverpool.
The one-cap England international penned a three-year deal with the Eagles, costing the south Londoners just £1.5m.
It seemed like a shrewd deal for an England international who had made 62 appearances for an English giant in Liverpool, and it has turned out to be just that – Steve Parish can pat himself on the back for this one.
Kelly remains an important first-team member to this day, making 17 Premier League starts under Roy Hodgson this season while appearing at centre-back and right-back.
In total, the 29-year-old has made 145 appearances for the south Londoners, helping them reach an FA Cup final in 2016 while also ensuring their Premier League status year after year.
Significantly, in an age where player wages can be quite astronomical, Kelly takes home a fairly modest £25k-a-week which makes him the lowest earner at Selhurst Park if Spotrac are to be believed.
That just makes Parish’s capture of him all the more brilliant – he is arguably the shrewdest swoop of the chairman’s reign, which speaks volumes seeing as Palace have also discovered bargains in the form of Jordan Ayew for £2.5m and James McArthur for only £7m.
Across the 291 weeks that Kelly has been at the club, he has earned a total of £7.28m in wages. This figure, when added onto his bargain transfer fee of £1.5m, means that the versatile defender has cost Palace a total outlay of £8.78m since his arrival on 14th August 2014.
As aforesaid, he has made 145 appearances for Palace, which means that each outing from the ex-Liverpool man has cost the Eagles just £60.1k, which makes him an extremely good piece of business in terms of value for money.
The England international is still going strong under Hodgson to this day, and there is certainly no end in sight to his Crystal Palace career as of yet, so his monetary efficiency will only look more attractive with each passing day.
Calling all Eagles fans: Can you get 90% on this quickfire Palace quiz?
Parish truly landed a bargain with this 2014 swoop.
In other news, take a look at three things we have learned about Gary Cahill this season…