Gentleman Jim Doyle WON'T go in January. It would take a couple of seasons of consistency before a BIG club come in for him. It is widely acknowledged that the second season is harder as defences and managers wise up to a striker's movement.
Why would Doyle want to go to Villa/Everton/Wet Sham/Man City etc when he is achieving everything he wants right here? Both in the Prem and with the Ireland squad.
I'm not saying he will go in January but Palace managed to hold on to Johnson for an extra year because there was less teams with enough money to prize him out. Now we suddenly have in the Prem a whole load of teams who have benefited from foreign investment. In my opinion it would need at least £10 million to sign Doyle. Previously there was only really Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool who could put that kinda cash together. Now suddenly West Ham, Villa, Pompey, Man City, Everton are all gonna be in a position where they can raise £10 million.
Villa have it right now and Villa could do with a striker like Doyle. In todays Premiership clubs will come in rapidly for top stars like Doyle with big offers.
Teams like Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are clearly thinking about better players than Doyle, but Villa, West Ham and Everton are exactly the right clubs that would hire Doyle. And suddenly they all have lots of cash.
I would say that there is a 25% chance Doyle will leave in January, a 60% chance he will leave in the Summer and obviously a 40% chance that he will still be with us next season. That is how I would assess the odds.