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What Crystal Palace’s starting XI could look like next season - if transfer rumours prove true.
After a slow start to the 2024/25 season, Crystal Palace have started to purr a little bit and their performances are raising hopes that the club could push on and challenge for European qualification next season – but they’ll have to work hard in the summer transfer market to maintain forward momentum.
That’s because a string of their star players are being linked with moves away from Selhurst Park. Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton, Marc Guéhi and Jean-Philippe Mateta have all become regular fodder for transfer rumours and the chances that all four are being managed by Oliver Glasner next season seem to be slim to none.
So which are most likely to leave, and how will Palace fill the holes left behind? We’ve combed through the most plausible transfer stories to figure out a possible starting XI for the Eagles next season, with new faces, a couple of fan favourites gone, and a total of just under £220m worth of talent…
Change at centre-half after Marc Guéhi leaves
GK: Dean Henderson (£20m); CB: Maxence Lacroix (£18m), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (£20m), Trevoh Chalobah (£40m)
Palace fought tooth and nail to keep Guéhi from leaving for Newcastle United last season, but we suspect that they will find the pressure to sell harder to resist this time around, with Chelsea and Liverpool also linked with a summer bid for the England centre-back – of all the stars linked with a move away from Selhurst Park, Guéhi looks like the most likely to leave as it stands.
With him gone, we suspect we’ll see Palace use the cash to splash out on at least two new centre-backs. Trevoh Chalobah, who was on loan for the first half of the current season before being recalled, is likely to be a player Chelsea are keen to sell due to his home-grown status, and we would be surprised if Palace didn’t look at a permanent deal. £40m was the alleged valuation back in January, but given Chelsea’s desperation to sell this summer, we suspect they’ll settle for less.
Another player linked with Palace is Southampton and England centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis. If (let’s be honest, when) Southampton go down, they’re reported to want the £20m they paid back to move him on, and that could be a very shrewd investment. Chalobah and Harwood-Bellis could join Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix and Chadi Riad in a battle for starting spots.
A new midfielder high on the shopping list
LWB: Tyrick Mitchell (academy); RWB: Daniel Muñoz (£6.5m); CM:Jobe Bellingham (£20m), Adam Wharton (£22m)
Let’s start with the headline – we don’t think that Wharton will leave this summer despite links to the two Manchester clubs and a host of other elite sides. The asking price will be very high, he’s coming off a season curtailed by injury, and we believe he’ll be the player who gets the Guéhi treatment this time around, with Palace doing everything to hold onto him.
But there will still be a need for a central midfielder, and we’ve seen quite a few stories linking Palace with England Under-21 stars Jobe Bellingham and Hayden Hackney. Hackney, who plays for Middlesbrough, will be the easier of the two to sign, but we’re choosing to be optimistic and say that Palace could win the battle for Bellingham.
A lot – and we mean a lot – of clubs are reported to be monitoring Bellingham, who will surely leave the Stadium of Light if Sunderland aren’t promoted. We suspect he’ll follow Jude’s footsteps and find a stepping stone club rather than going straight to one of the big guns, however, so Palace is as realistic a destination as any.
Will Crystal Palace be able to keep Eberechi Eze?
LW: Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn (£35m); RW: Rayan Cherki (£25m); CF: Jean-Philippe Mateta (£11m)
The bad news is that we think Palace will struggle to keep Eze in the side past this summer. He’s moving to a point where he seems keen to advance his career at a ‘bigger’ club, and quite a few of them could be keen. Palace will do well financially, but they’ll be in need of some new wingers.
We believe two rumours doing the rounds could come to fruition. Firstly, Lyon are in dire financial straits and their owner is Palace shareholder John Textor – they will surely try to sell tempestuous star winger Rayan Cherki, with £25m mooted and Palace’s name already mentioned in dispatches.
Secondly, both the Eagles and Everton have been connected with Celtic winger Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn, who has bagged 10 SPL goals this season and is supposedly valued at £35m. We believe that he’ll cost a little less, but he won’t come cheap. Young FC Midtjylland striker Franculino Djú is another name we’ve seen crop up, although he’d play a more central role.
We do, at least, think that the free-scoring Mateta will stay put. Several wealthier sides want a striker this summer and the Frenchman has been linked with a move but we think most of the big Premier League teams are looking for younger players right now, or players they believe to be at a slightly higher level. Mateta could leave – but we think the odds are that Palace get another season out of him.