Crystal Palace have now been tipped to hijack talks and secure a £20m signing this summer.
After the initial excitement of Chadi Riad and Daichi Kamada arriving at Selhurst Park early in the window, some fans are now panicking after Michael Olise completed his £50.8m switch to Bayern Munich – while Arsenal are on red alert as Marc Guehi looks set to reject a new deal.
However, there has just been some positive news, as Crystal Palace are backed to complete a third signing of the summer…
Crystal Palace tipped to hijack Jaden Philogene deal
Keith Wyness – former Chief Executive Officer of both Everton and Aston Villa – has now revealed that he believes Crystal Palace are going to sign Jaden Philogene.
The England U21 international has been the focal point of an early summer transfer saga which involves Ipswich, Everton, Aston Villa, West Ham and Crystal Palace.
A story from The Athletic claimed that Philogene had agreed to join Ipswich on Tuesday – although Aston Villa had the right to match the bid as per a matching rights clause they negotiated when selling the winger to Hull City in September, an option the Villans have activated.
That same article mentioned that Crystal Palace and West Ham were still in contention to sign Philogene despite the developments involving Ipswich and Aston Villa.
Now – however – Wyness believes Crystal Palace will win the race.
The 66-year-old told Football Insider: “I’m hearing the fee is £16m plus add-ons up to £20m.
“There’s something nagging in my head. I think Crystal Palace are going to come in at the last minute and steal him away. They’ve sold Olise, so I think they could be a threat in this race.
“A lot of these deals aren’t done until they’re done. I’ve seen it before, players having medicals when their agent gets a call – and you never see them again.”
Signing the England U21 international would represent a shock
At this moment in time, it would be a real surprise if Dougie Freedman won the race to sign Philogene.
We would love to think that Wyness is correct, although Ipswich have already managed to convince the 22-year-old to move to Portman Road, while Aston Villa have also agreed personal terms with the Londoner, according to that aforementioned piece from The Athletic.
Therefore, it sounds like Freedman has a lot of work to do in order to catch Ipswich and Aston Villa up.
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Nevertheless, be sure to keep an eye on this situation, as anything could happen.
