CRYSTAL Palace’s Jerome Binnom-Williams is close to completing a loan switch to Southend United as a replacement for the injured Ben Coker.

Coker has been ruled out for around four months with the elbow injury he sustained towards the end of Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Oxford United.

But Blues boss Phil Brown has reacted quickly to bring in a replacement.

And he hopes to sign Binnom-Williams in time for him to make his debut in Saturday’s clash against Portsmouth at Roots Hall.

“Jerome’s a young lad but Tony Pulis rated him highly, he included him with the first team throughout pre-season and gave him a squad number too,” said Brown.

“Since Neil Warnock replaced Tony though, Jerome has become surplus to requirements and we’re trying to bring him in.

“He’s six foot two inches tall, he’s quick, strong and can look after the ball.

“Obviously he hasn’t played league football yet and you do take a gamble with youth loans.

“But we hope to nurture him while he’s with us and it will be a very big game for him to come in to at the weekend.”

Binnom-Williams is close to completing an initial 28 day loan deal which can be continued until January if required.

After the first month, Palace have a 24 hour recall option.

And Brown chose to sign the youngster after also having talks with a more experienced defender with another Premier League club.

“The player has made 100 or 150 appearances in League One but he’s only just coming back from an injury,” said Brown.

“He did his cruciate ligaments and has only played 45 minutes since then.

“The club in question wanted the loan spell with us to get him back up to speed but we couldn’t really afford to bring in someone who wasn’t match fit.”

Binnom-Williams has made two appearances in the League Cup for Palace and also spent time on loan with Conference club Forest Green Rovers last season.

The youngster has also represented England at under 18 and 19 age-groups.

But Brown is gutted to have had to brought in a replacement for Coker, who will need to have an operation to recover his injury.

“It’s a big blow because Ben is an important player for us,” said the Blues boss.

“We had a look at it and apparently 0.05 per cent of injuries in football are on the elbow yet we’ve had both Michael Timlin and Ben Coker injure theirs.

“They’re both important, left sided players and it’s disappointing to be missing them.”

Centre-back Cian Bolger is also expected to be out for another fortnight with a grade one tear of his thigh.