Crystal Palace spent much of their summer dealing with the speculation surrounding Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi, but Palace also turned down £50m offers to cash in on Jean-Philippe Mateta
Crystal Palace rejected mulitple bids worth £50million for Jean-Philippe Mateta as they fought to keep their top talent this summer – eventually pulling the plug on Marc Guehi’s move to Liverpool.
The Eagles, off the back of their FA Cup success, faced a battle to keep their top talent throughout the summer. Eberechi Eze was the man to eventually move on with the winger beginning the year at the club, before moving to Arsenal in a deal worth £68million.
Mateta didn’t court as much attention as Eze and Guehi, who was linked with Arsenal and Liverpool, but the striker was the subject of hefty offers from clubs who were playing in the Champions League. Palace rejected those and the player never downed tools or pushed for a move, reports Sky Sports.
The Frenchman has scored 36 times across the last two seasons and proved himself to be one of the Premier League’s top strikers. Atalanta, AC Milan and Juventus were all interested in Mateta, who found the net in the Community Shield win over Liverpool at Wembley.
Tottenham also came to the party late in the day as they looked for more reinforcements in attack. They had been in for Eze before Arsenal swooped in and considered Mateta on deadline day prior to securing a move for PSG’s Randal Kolo Muani.
READ MORE: Marc Guehi transfer: Five clubs look to take advantage after Liverpool collapseREAD MORE: Roy Hodgson blames both Crystal Palace AND Liverpool over Marc Guehi transfer collapse
Oliver Glasner had been critical of Palace’s “passive” nature in the summer transfer window as he faced the prospect of losing more of his best players. After Eze’s exit the Eagles boss became particularly vocal about his desire to keep Guehi.
The centre-half skippered the side to FA Cup glory but his contract expires next summer and he’s made no desire to sign an extension. It leaves Palace facing the prospect of losing Guehi for nothing despite previously rejecting bids of £60m from Newcastle with chairman Steve Parish confessing they would not allow that to happen.
Guehi scored in Sunday’s win over Aston Villa in what could’ve been his last appearance. Liverpool were close to securing a £35m deal before Palace pulled the plug at 4pm on deadline day. Glasner had put pressure of the Eagles hierarchy not to sell the defender.
He said: “We had a great start and I think our fans deserve to have the best players available. I know if we don’t sell Marc, he will accept it. He loves the club and team, he feels the appreciation and we feel the same from his side. That’s why I have to say we need to keep him.”
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