Crystal Palace are claimed to have made two offers to sign Eddie Nketiah from Arsenal, but transfer insider Dean Jones the London club simply cannot afford it.
The Eagles were in talks to land the English forward during the summer, only to fail to meet the wage demands or the 22 year-old. They are now claimed to have returned with two fresh attempts to sign Nketiah this month, with just six months remaining on his current deal in north London, but we have supposedly rejected both offers.
Dean Jones insists that he none of his inside information is telling him that anything has changed from the summer however, and that Palace cannot afford the deal to land Nketiah this month regardless.
“I was told that Palace didn’t have the money for Nketiah,” Jones told GiveMeSport. “I don’t know if that’s changed, or if they’ve re-evaluated it. I was told Nketiah had proved too difficult for them to do first time around, and I haven’t heard anything in the last 48 hours to suggest that’s changed. So I would be surprised if Palace were going to sign him.”
Whether Palace can afford the deal or not is only half of the issue. Arsenal’s need for numbers in attack has to be standing in the way of any potential exit regardless of whether they can afford to bring him to Selhurst Park or not.
Maybe Palace are playing the long game, and are simply getting the message across that they are serious about his signature in attempt to get ahead of their rivals in case he is to become a free agent in the summer.
Either way, I don’t see this happening in January unless there is some major movement on our front, which has to be unlikely at this point.
Patrick