Crystal Palace are still pushing to keep one of their best players from the grips of one of their Premier League rivals. The Eagles are having a superb season, currently in fourth place after a big away win over Fulham that saw them leapfrog Chelsea.
Palace are on course for a second successive European qualification despite having never qualified for Europe until their FA Cup win last term.
With Palace – as a collective and as individuals – performing so well, it’s no surprise that clubs are already keeping an eye on players ahead of next summer. Marc Guehi will almost certainly be moving on, but there is also lots of speculation surrounding Adam Wharton and Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The latter is enjoying another superb campaign, and one that has earned him his first France cap. A world Cup squad spot is certainly not out of the question, either.
Manchester United are said to be circling despite them signing Benjamin Sesko last summer, and Palace are said to be trying to put the Frenchman beyond reach. Mateta is under contract until 2027, but given his performances, he is within his rights to demand a pay rise.
Reports have suggested that Mateta wants to move on in the not too distant future to seize his momentum, but former scout Mick Brown has told our source that Palace are still trying to reach an agreement, but there is an issue in the form of their salary policy.
“This isn’t going to change Palace’s stance,” said Brown. “He’s been an important player for them both on and off the pitch, so they still want him to sign a new contract and they hope they can come to an agreement.
“The dispute over wages, it’s always a difficult one because the club will have a limit of how high they’re willing to go and they’ll want to stand by that. It could create new problems because if they go over the top for one player, all of a sudden they get others knocking on the door asking for the same. So it will depend on whether they can reach a compromise, but as I say, it’s definitely something Palace still want to do, it’s just about how they do it.
“They’ll be making plans, whether it’s to do with money, maybe they bring players in to show him they want to be ambitious, that type of thing. Ultimately it will depend on the player, if he’s holding out for the money he knows he’s not going to get, and maybe he does fancy a move elsewhere.”
Parish admission
In the meantime, it will concern Palace fans that chief Steve Parish has admitted that departures are likely in the summer. “We’ve got one eye on players who we might have to replace in the summer,” he told The Athletic.
“We’re not going to throw it all on red and have a massive problem. Unless you want to be in a situation where you’re constantly putting in money every year, there’s a cash limit to what you can spend. You can’t spend money you don’t have. You have to have some guardrails as a club, or you’ll build up big problems down the track. Everyone saw where prices went in the summer; it’s a difficult landscape.
“There wasn’t the right thing available at the right time when the finances were in place. There’s no point in doing something for the sake of it. How are you going to get someone to come and tell them they are No 1 in Ebs [Eze] position if you still have him? The one where we didn’t, with Marc [Guehi], we kept him. You can’t always make happen what you want to. We are where we are in the pecking order; you could ask why other clubs make bids for our players two weeks before the end of the window. I don’t know why they did that.”
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