It's often said you shouldn't judge a book by its cover -- although these days most people download books to their tablet, so perhaps it should be "don't judge a book by the comment reviews." But it still rings true, especially when it comes to transfers at Crystal Palace.
You see, Palace have a history of taking unfancied players -- particularly strikers who have been written off by other clubs -- and turning them into stars.
And it's for this reasons that Eagles fans shouldn't be too disappointed with the signing of Yaya Sanogo on loan from Arsenal for the rest of the season.
For a start, it's only a loan, which means if Sanogo is a total flop, he can be sent back to the Emirates with not much having been wasted on him. It's not like Ade Akinbiyi, whom Palace paid a near club record 2.2 million pounds for in 2002 and then had to let his hefty contract expire before he left for Burnley, where he suddenly remember how to score goals.
Secondly, it won't take much for Sanogo to be a star. He just needs to take a look at a familiar face. Take Marouane Chamakh; he made the same journey from Arsenal to Palace at the start of last season and his arrival was greeted with the same level of apathy from Eagles fans and derision from supporters of other clubs that Sanogo's has. But he quickly settled into life in SE25 and became a cult hero thanks to numerous gut-busting performances each week and a string of important goals last December as Tony Pulis slowly started to drag the Eagles up the table.
Chamakh had something to prove, just like Damien Delaney, Jason Puncheon and Yannick Bolasie did too. They were talented players, no doubt, but not widely accepted by large sections of the Palace and football supporting world. Yet they worked their socks off to earn a place in the team.
Palace is a good place for that kind of player. Loads throughout the years have arrived with a reputation as a washed up journeyman or a wasted young talent but have flourished if they wanted to. Palace fans have also seen a lot of players arrive with huge potential or big reputations but fail to prove they can cut it.
It takes hard work alongside any natural talent to really hit the heights if you don't show that, you are quickly out of the door. Eagles supporters love a flair player, but only if they prove they will dig in when the going gets tough.
If the player gets it, the fans will get them -- Andy Johnson is a great example. He arrived as part of a deal that took massively popular striker Clinton Morrison to Birmingham and came to Selhurst as a raw talent who hadn't quite made it at St Andrews.
But AJ quickly became a favourite of Palace fans with his lung-busting workmate up front; the goals didn't flow but Eagles fans didn't mind because AJ went out there every week and played with the sort of passion most Palace fans would like to think they would do too if they weren't hideously out of shape and overweight. And terrible at football.
Once "AJ" scored his first goal the others flowed and before long he was chucking in 30 a season as Palace were promoted to the top flight. There, he outscored every other Englishman to earn a place in the England squad and eventually a club record 8 million pound move to Everton. But even that came after staying with Palace one more season after relegation to try in vain to help them back into the Premier League.
Fans have never forgotten that loyalty, passion and commitment to the team so much so that when he was re-signed by Neil Warnock in August this year, supporters gave him a hero's welcome back at Selhurst.
Sanogo needs to look at these guys for inspiration. He needs to be the complete package, not just the man who sticks the ball in the net. He is taking over the role that Cameron Jerome played for Palace last season -- although he only scored a paltry two goals, he is still revered by plenty of the Selhurst faithful because of the hard work he put in up front.
So Sanogo has the chance to be another Chamakh or another AJ and prove to the football world that he can be a big player in the Premier League. All it's going to take it a bit of hard work. If he does that, the fans will forgive him if he doesn't score many. Well, unless it's fewer than two.