Jean-Philippe Mateta is attracting interest from Aston Villa.placeholder image
Jean-Philippe Mateta is attracting interest from Aston Villa. | Getty Images
The 28-year-old looks set to be at the centre of a heated transfer saga
Crystal Palace talisman Jean-Philippe Mateta is thought to be open to a move to Premier League rivals Aston Villa after being linked with a switch to Birmingham earlier this week.
The French footballer, who scored seven times for the nation at the Olympic Games last summer, has been Crystal Palace’s top scorer in both of the last two seasons and has proven to be an absolute revelation for the Eagles since Oliver Glasner’s appointment in February 2024.
He’s scored 36 across all competitions in the last two campaigns, with 30 of those coming in the Premier League and looks to be continuing that form into this season after scoring three times in his team’s opening six matches, including the decisive goal against Fredrikstad, which ensured Palace’s first venture into a European competition after last year’s FA Cup win.
Aston Villa plot January move for Jean-Philippe Mateta
Aston Villa are believed to be ‘very keen’ on signing Mateta. They are in the market for a second centre forward to provide further competition for Ollie Watkins after the departure of Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr eight months ago.
Mateta has proven himself to be an excellent goalscorer at Premier League level and is seen as the calibre of player that could seriously enhance the club’s chances of going deep into the Europa League as Unai Emery attempts to win the competition for the fifth time in his managerial career after winning the tournament three times in a row with Sevilla and once with Villarreal in Spain.
The former France Under-21 international has also attracted strong interest from Leeds following their promotion to the Premier League but it’s also claimed by TEAMtalk that the striker has no interest in moving to Elland Road at this stage.
Newcastle, however, could represent real opposition to Aston Villa. They are currently competing in the Champions League after a fifth place finish, and despite signing both Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa this summer are thought to be in a position where they could potentially afford to add another striker to their ranks.
Crystal Palace are determined to keep Jean-Philippe Mateta
Crystal Palace enjoyed arguably the best season in the club’s history by winning their first ever piece of major silverware and also recording 53 points - their highest of the Premier League era. They may have missed out on the Europa League due to the John Textor saga, but they're still one of the outstanding favourites to win the Conference League and have a manager in Oliver Glasner that’s proven he knows how to win European trophies after guiding Frankfurt to the Europa League earlier in his career.
Chairman Steve Parish successfully kept Marc Guehi at the club to keep the club in strong shape for a testing campaign and it’s likely they’ll do everything they can at the other end of the pitch to keep star striker Mateta. At this stage, TEAMtalk speculates that the club values the striker at around £40m, although as we’ve seen elsewhere in the capital with Yoane Wissa, they could easily look up that price tag to get even more for the player.
Mateta is under contract until 2027 which keeps him at the club until his 30th birthday. Some sources even claim Palace could seek a figure of around £60m to do business with other clubs.
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