Crystal Palace are considering not selecting Eberechi Eze in their opening game of the season against Chelsea on Sunday. Palace, who have lined up Leicester’s Bilal El Khannouss as a potential replacement, are believed to have held discussions about whether Eze should miss the trip to Stamford Bridge as negotiations with Tottenham intensify.
Spurs have stepped up their attempts to sign the 27-year-old this week as they search for more attacking reinforcements after James Maddison was ruled out for a significant part of the season with a knee injury. Tottenham have held talks with Palace over a potential deal but have yet to make an official offer.
Eze’s release clause of £67.5m expired on Friday but Palace are believed to want a similar fee, with a large chunk paid upfront, to persuade them to sell the player who scored the winning goal in May’s FA Cup final.
Spurs are not thought to be willing to pay that much, although negotiations are continuing and they are understood to be confident that Eze wants to join despite Arsenal having also shown strong interest in him this summer. They were thought to be his preferred option, but have yet to make a move for the former QPR player as they prioritise outgoings.
Tottenham missed out on the signing of Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and believe Eze can add creativity to their squad as they prepare to compete in the Champions League. QPR are understood to be due a sell-on clause of 15% of any profit Palace make on any transfer after they signed Eze for £19.5m in 2020.
Palace manager, Oliver Glasner, said on Friday that he expected Eze and Marc Guéhi – who has interest from Liverpool – would both feature on Sunday. “Marc has trained the entire week with us, every single training session, the same with Ebs,” he said.
“They’ve prepared the best way for the Chelsea game on Sunday afternoon. I’ve been in the football business for too long, so I know that at any time of any day, things can happen. If you ask me now, I expect both Marc and Ebs to start on Sunday.”
