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Crystal Palace are closing in on a £30million deal with Leicester City for Bilal El Khannouss, causing dominoes to fall elsewhere.
Earlier, talkSPORT reported that Palace and Tottenham were nearing a £60 million agreement for Eberechi Eze, a deal facilitated by the Eagles already preparing his successor.
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Palace has reached a verbal agreement with Leicester City on a £32 million deal for playmaker El Khannouss, as the south London club aims to secure a replacement before Eze’s departure.
The Eagles are now evaluating whether to advance or make an offer for Southampton’s young talent Tyler Dibling, who attracted a £45 million bid from Everton earlier this summer.
Christos Tzolis is another leading option, but Club Brugge prefer not to sell.
El Khannouss, who only joined the Foxes last summer for £20 million from Genk, impressed several Premier League teams and German Champions League contender Bayer Leverkusen with his performances.
Similar to Eze, the Moroccan international born in Belgium had a release clause in his contract, which, like the clause in Eze’s contract, has since expired.
El Khannouss had a £22.5 million relegation clause included in his contract, but despite Leicester’s relegation to the Championship, that clause has now expired, allowing them to negotiate a higher amount with Palace.
Conversely, Eze had a £68m release clause in his deal at Selhurst Park, but it expired on August 15.
Such a figure would have put the 11-time England international clear as Spurs’ all-time record signing, but a £60m deal ties him with what Everton received for Richarlison in 2022.
The next step in Eze’s rise
Eze has become a certified star since leaving Queens Park Rangers for Palace in 2020, and had the best season of his career last time out, recording 15 goals and 11 assist, helping Palace to their first major trophy of the FA Cup.
He featured in the Eagles’ Premier League opener against Chelsea at the weekend, finding the net with a superb free-kick, but it was cancelled out and the match ended 0-0.
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The 27-year-old then appeared to say a goodbye of sorts to the travelling fans at Stamford Bridge, only for Palace manager Oliver Glasner to state that he expected him to play in Thursday’s Conference League opener.
“Eb should have scored a goal today, he had one and it was disallowed,” the Austrian coach said.
“He will come tomorrow to the Crystal Palace training ground, Tuesday off, we take Wednesday and I expect him to be back playing for us against Fredrikstad.”
El Khannouss ready to star again in the Premier League
El Khannouss has similarly played his part in Leicester’s start to the season, showing his playmaking abilities with two assists already in three games.
Last season in the top flight he recorded three goals and five assists overall and was a rare bright spark in an otherwise miserable season for the 2016 champions.
Palace have had an otherwise quiet summer, just bringing in left back Borna Sosa from Ajax for £3m.
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They’ve also so far managed to hold onto captain Marc Guehi amid interest from Liverpool, with chairman Steve Parish previously suggesting a sale was necessary to avoid the centre back leaving for free next summer.
On Spurs’ part, the Europa League champions have been anything but quiet this summer, starting by trading their trophy winning manager Ange Postecoglou for former Brentford boss Thomas Frank.
With that European win booking a return to the Champions League, Frank has been backed heavily in the window, spending over £125m.
Mohammed Kudus arrived from West Ham for £55m, while deals for Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso were made permanent, totalling £50m.
