Crystal Palace

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The Telegraph's Luke Edwards says "it is a bruising end" to the transfer window if Crystal Palace lose centre-back pairing Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi.

The duo may leave Selhurst Park for Fulham and Newcastle United respectively before deadline day on Friday, 30 August.

"It is a dangerous game that they are playing to lose so many quality players in one window - and so late in the window too," said Edwards on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "That is what raises my eyebrow.

"It is all right to lose Michael Olise at the start of the window because you have time to spend the money on a suitable replacement. But to lose Anderson and Guehi in the last fortnight does not leave you with much time.

"[Oliver] Glasner will be concerned about that and I am led to believe that he has found the past few weeks quite stressful. He has come in and done a really good job and hopes were high, but if he loses Guehi too then they have lost their two first-choice centre-backs.

"To the manager 'build a backline when the season has already started' is extremely tough. But it will give them a lot of flexibility with profit and sustainability rules.

"Glasner can have the freedom to buy players he wants with the money they have, rather than using the players he has inherited. That will be good in the long run but this will leave a sting at Selhurst Park in the short term.

"It is a bruising end to the window and fans will want to be assured that there is still ambition there. But it will be a very tough ask to replace the players they have lost in this window."

Listen to the full discussion on the Football Daily podcast

Leicester City are closing in on a deal for Crystal Palace forward Jordan Ayew. (Sky Sports, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Newcastle United may be considering alternatives, potentially as a negotiating tactic, but their interest in Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi remains.

The Magpies have had four bids for the 24-year-old England international - the most recent rising to £65m - turned down.

Guehi, who has two years left on his contract at Selhurst Park, is ready to move this summer if the option becomes available.

But Palace are reluctant to lose both centre-backs after agreeing a fee with Fulham to sell Joachim Andersen for about £30m.

The south London club's chairman Steve Parish told BBC Sport last week: "I can’t imagine a situation where we would lose both of our centre-halves."

But an increased fifth offer could be enough to finally convince Parish as he would be walking away from the best possible fee he could get for Guehi, given his contract situation.

We asked you which thing at Crystal Palace has not been spoken about enough this week.

Here are some of your comments:

Scott: Selhurst Park redevelopment. Not only final planning permission from Croydon and the Greater London Authority, but the extra cash from Olise and Andersen sales. A revamped Selhurst Park is going to be a game changer for this club.

George: Losing Joachim would be the worst possible outcome from this window, he would be the biggest loss to this time aside from Eze. Why is no one kicking up a stink at this?

Paddy: We need a 20+ goal a season striker. We don't score enough goals. We've never spent big "superstar" money.

Alexandru: Keeping Dougie Freedman as sporting director has been absolutely critical. Recall that there were plenty of rumours he'd leave just a few months ago. What a blessing. so many smart moves this window.

Rob: I watched the pre-season matches with Guehi absent and Andersen playing below par. Neither shone on Sunday and could go without being missed. Palace must focus on a settled side and re-create the cohesion that was so evident at the end of last season. No need to panic yet!

There is always so much noise at the start of the season and 2024-25 has been no different.

But when it comes to Crystal Palace, what is the one thing nobody is talking about - good or bad?

Tell us here, external

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Both teams have scored in each of the past 14 Premier League meetings between Crystal Palace and West Ham. Only matches between Fulham and Manchester City (15 between 2004 and 2011) can provide a longer run in the competition's history.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Crystal Palace have bid £12m plus £2m in add-ons for Wolfsburg centre-back Maxence Lacroix as they look to replace the departing Joachim Andersen, who is set for a medical at Fulham today.

The 24-year-old only has one year on his contract and sources say the player wants to make the move to the Eagles.

Lacroix has worked with Palace manager Oliver Glasner before, when Glasner was in charge of Wolfsburg.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

Crystal Palace's loss to Brentford on the opening day highlighted a couple of issues that are around for Oliver Glasner.

The Palace manager mentioned that Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton all had only 10 days of training ahead of the opening match following their involvement with England in Euro 2024.

Wharton was withdrawn with the scores level and Palace missed his passing range as soon as he went off.

Eberechi Eze was left on for the full match but Glasner said after that this was not the plan for him but they had to as they chased an equaliser.

The build-up to the game was dominated by talk about the futures of centre-backs Guehi and Joachim Andersen.

Andersen looks set to join Fulham for a fee of about £30m, while Newcastle have made three offers for Guehi, with the third bid understood to be about £60m. Palace chairman Steve Parish said it would be "unlikely" the Eagles would let both players leave.

It is hard to say that those things were playing on the players' minds but it would definitely give them and the club some stability if those situations were finished or could not happen if the window was closed.

The match also highlighted the gap that Michael Olise has left and another attacker coming into the building might help the Eagles' creative flair.

Palace are monitoring Lyon midfielder Rayan Cherki and he could add the flair and another option that they may be missing.

Alex Pewter
Fan writer

Sunday's loss to Brentford was not so much a rude awakening for Crystal Palace as a gentle reminder of how fine the margins of victory are in this division.

The Premier League record against their West London opposition now stands at five draws and a win apiece, as closely balanced as all those fixtures have been.

Both teams are shrouded in speculation about one of their key players, but Brentford's Ivan Toney did not feature in the squad, while Marc Guehi started. Similarly, Brentford were missing a pair of full-backs due to injury.

For Palace, aside from a defensive midfield switch of Will Hughes for either Cheick Doucoure or Jefferson Lerma in due course, this was essentially their starting XI. That may be a red flag, albeit a small one.

Without Michael Olise or a prominent signing to help offset that loss, the challenge is for Oliver Glasner to break through teams disciplined enough to restrict and frustrate in midfield. In that sense, Brentford were an ideal opponent to open the campaign. Rather than creating an illusion to the contrary, the pressure to add a further attacking midfielder is paramount.

Philosophically, Palace often appears to be a club willing to stick with players they have rather than reshuffling the deck, even on a budget. And - as the case was - if that is indeed Jordan Ayew and Odsonne Edouard as the primary attacking substitutes on Sunday, you have two players who don't fit the new coach. New tactics, but familiar faces.

There are plenty of numbers at the training ground at Beckenham, so arrivals would need exits to facilitate them. The question will be if the club has the time to do the necessary work beyond the headline needs.

Find more from Alex Pewter at FYP podcast, external

Fulham are considering whether to go back to Crystal Palace with another bid for defender Joachim Andersen. (Sky Sports), external

Meanwhile, Newcastle United still believe they can sign Marc Guehi from Palace, but they are also considering other options. (i Sport), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Crystal Palace are monitoring Lyon midfielder Rayan Cherki.

The 21-year-old was recently part of the France Olympic squad and featured in three of their games, coming on as a substitute in the loss to Spain in the final.

Cherki has just one year left on his deal with the Ligue 1 side and reports in France say he is training away from the first team before a potential move.

He has played 141 times for Lyon scoring 17 goals and registered 25 assists.

A deal may be easier to do because Cherki plays for Lyon, who are owned by John Textor and his Eagle Football holdings group, and Textor also has a 45% stake in Palace as part of his multi-club ownership.

As well as owning Lyon and his stake in Palace, Textor owns Botafogo in Brazil and RWD Molenbeek in Belgium.

Textor is trying to sell his shares in the Eagles and has signed an exclusivity agreement with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri as he looks to buy a majority stake in the club.

Palace are in the market for an attacker to fill the void left by Michael Olise who has joined Bayern Munich.

The Eagles have already signed Daichi Kamada from Lazio and Ismaila Sarr from Marseille.

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Brentford and Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Fred: Great game and we finally beat Palace in the Premier League. They are a good team who are very well coached. A couple of nervy moments but our defence seemed to be stable and Flekken was unbelievable. Onto Liverpool now

Matt: Some incredibly slick passing and hard battling helped us beat a resilient Palace, but some sleepy defending could have cost us more than it did. Still unsure where Carvalho starts but excited for the season nonetheless!

Stefano: It was a tricky win by Brentford against Palace, but a deserved one! They didn't need Toney either, but would be sad see him go, nevertheless.

Palace fans

Steve: Disallowed goal is a major talking point. But, Palace were far too open on the counter attack. Munoz and Richards looked vulnerable, while Wharton did seem off the pace. Brentford are an average team, and were there for the taking. Yet this defeat may be a blessing in disguise, reminding everyone that considerable improvement is still needed.

Gavin: No question that it was a disappointing performance. We seemed to lack cohesion and a directness, both of which were in abundance at the end of last season. On the balance of play, it is a game that we should not have lost but we thoroughly deserved our equaliser, albeit an own goal. Defensively we need to improve for West Ham.

Christian: Very frustrating all round. Wasn't a good performance by any stretch, but it wasn't helped by incompetent officiating. If that was Sam Barrott's trial, it didn't go well. Supposed to be the best league in the world, and it is let down by the referee's time and time again.

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Former Premier League goalkeeper Asmir Begovic says "it all becomes a bit of a mess" when transfer deals are not completed before the start of the Premier League season.

Reflecting on the performance of Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi against Brentford on Sunday, Begovic believes the pressure of the ongoing talks with Newcastle United are playing on his mind.

"It plays a massive part," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "For someone like Guehi it is a massive move and there are so many personal things riding on it. It could be the best move of his career, so at that level it plays even more on your mind.

"It is such a difficult position for players and the manager. It is almost impossible for them to deal with. I feel sympathy for him [Guehi] as I am sure he would have wanted it sorted by now."

Former goalkeeper Stephen Kelly added: "I am sure he wants to play, and he is happy to play for Palace, but if he is potentially making a life-changing move then of course that is playing on his mind.

"He will be thinking 'what if I get injured?'

"These things should not creep into your mind but they do because you are human."

Listen to the Football Daily Podcast on BBC Sounds

Highlights and analysis from Sunday's two Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Arsenal 2-0 Wolves

• West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa

• Brentford 2-1 Crystal Palace

• Chelsea 0-2 Man City

Crystal Palace have made a breakthrough in their pursuit of French defender Maxence Lacroix, 24, from Wolfsburg. (Sky Germany, external)

Palace are leading the race to sign Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka, 20. (Sun, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Joe Rindl
BBC Sport journalist

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For Crystal Palace fans there was only one key talking point.

At 0-0, Eberechi Eze caught Brentford keeper Mark Flekken dozing to find the net with a quickly taken free-kick, but referee Sam Barrott had spotted a foul by Will Hughes on Nathan Collins as the set-piece was struck.

With the whistle blown before the ball entered the goal, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was unable to intervene and check Hughes' challenge to potentially overrule the onfield decision.

On reflection, it was probably not a foul which meant Brentford's goal moments later stung even more.

Crystal Palace still got themselves back into the game in the second half, and had Odsonne Edouard timed his run better, would have gone 2-1 up.

Edouard had a good game after replacing Jean-Philippe Mateta at half-time, while Eze was clearly Palace's biggest goal threat.

The performance was there, despite the loss. What might have been had that Eze strike counted...

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Crystal Palace attacker Eberechi Eze spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Crystal Palace lost to Brentford: "I was told (by the referee) that he blew too early and made the mistake. It could have changed the game but we have to deal with it. It wasn't our only chance.

"If we perform like that then we'll do well. It's a game, you're going to make mistakes as a referee and unfortunately, it happened to us today. You'd hope it'd even out throughout the season."

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Oliver Glasner spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Crystal Palace's defeat to Brentford: "When you lose it is always disappointing in a game like this. We don't look for excuses or complain about anything. it is how it is. We had many opportunities to create chances. When you concede two goals it's difficult because we have to score three. We will analyse it and have more compactness in defense. We are disappointed today.

"We are disappointed but it is how it is. It makes no sense to complain now. We won't get this goal back for a draw. We had a great reaction after the 1-0 at half-time and played well in the second half. We scored but it was offside. We could have avoided the cross for their goal and defended better. I'm very confident that when we get into our rhythm then we will get into these games."

On Marc Guehi, Glasner added: "Everyone can see he is completely focused on Crystal Palace and the game today. The last two days, we didn't speak about transfers because we focused on the game so no news."

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Crystal Palace ended the last campaign on a high, winning six of their last seven games but weren't able to match the form they showed at the back end of last season.

The Eagles have lost winger Michael Olise to Bayern Munich and the forward was a key part of that success they had.

Daichi Kamada started the match on the right side of the Palace attack and was tidy and linked the play well but did not look as creative as Olise - which will be hard for any player to match.

Palace had a lot of the game where they were on top but could not make the most of those times.

Glasner’s side had 54% possession, 14 shots with six of those on target. It still took an own goal to get them level and Edouard will be disappointed that he strayed offside when he thought he had given Palace the lead.

To be fair to Edouard he did improve the Palace attack when he came on but Palace may have to invest if they want to make up for the loss of Olise and not keep having the same conversation throughout the season.