Ollie Webber is departing Crystal Palace and joining Portsmouth, The Athletic's Matt Woosnam reports

The lowdown

Webber will be the seventh player allowed to leave Palace's under-23s this winter.

Attacking midfielder Jacob Montes, defensive midfield duo Jake Giddings and James Taylor and centre-back Jake O'Brien have all sealed loan moves.

Goalkeeper Serine Sanneh and CB Jay Rich-Baghuelou, meanwhile, have departed the club permanently.

Webber, who's also a keeper, has been with Palace since 2016, when he was recruited from Glentoran in his homeland of Northern Ireland.

The latest

"[I'm] told," Woosnam tweeted on Friday evening, "that Palace under-23 goalkeeper Ollie Webber is joining Portsmouth permanently."

It's as yet unclear how much money Palace will receive from Pompey.

The verdict

Webber does look to be a promising talent. He's featured three times for Northern Ireland at Under-21 level, starting a pair of European Championship qualifiers against Russia and Spain as recently as last autumn.

He's played 20 times in total for Palace's Under-23s, keeping five clean sheets but conceding 35 times.

However, only one of those appearances has come this season, with Woosnam noting that the 'impressive' Joe Whitworth has been keeping him out of the side.

If he can't hold down the no. 1 spot at that level, then you'd have to doubt whether he has the credentials to be a Palace first-teamer in the long term.

A permanent move to the Football League could be the best thing for him.

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