Crystal Palace intend to sign a central midfielder and a left-back in the January transfer window, with Jean-Philippe Mateta ready to leave.
The Eagles have one of the smallest squads in the Premier League, and injuries have further limited Roy Hodgson’s pool of players. The club will now be forced into the market in January.
Palace’s only senior left-back, Tyrick Mitchell, is currently nursing a short-term muscle strain in his hip, and manager Roy Hodgson had wanted the club to find cover in that position back in the summer.
In central midfield, Palace signed Jefferson Lerma as a free agent in the summer and also have Jeffrey Schlupp, Will Hughes and Cheick Doucoure.
Doucoure snapped his Achilles tendon last month, and is unlikely to play again this season. With Lerma currently out with hamstring tightness and Schlupp playing further forward to cover attacking injuries, Hodgson has been forced to use centre-back Chris Richards as a makeshift midfielder in Palace’s last three games.
Hodgson strongly believes that the club need to strengthen in midfield and on the left flank, and the club’s recruitment team, including chairman Steve Parish, are in agreement.
Parish hopes the majority of Palace’s transfer activity will involve loan signings. The same policy last January saw Albert Sambi Lokonga come in from Arsenal, although Naouirou Ahamada signed permanently from Stuttgart for a fee of £9.7million.
Striker Mateta is keen to play regular first-team football, and would be ready to leave Selhurst Park in January if the promise of regular game time elsewhere was matched by Palace’s ability to find a replacement. Eintracht Frankfurt are among the clubs interested in a deal.
The club blocked moves for Mateta to Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig this summer after failing to find a suitable replacement, but Palace remain interested in Paris Saint-Germain’s Hugo Ekitike, who is available on loan or on a permanent deal.
Mateta is approaching the two-year mark at Palace, but remains behind Odsonne Edouard in the pecking order and has not started a match since October.
He won and scored a penalty in the late 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Saturday, with his only other goals so far this season coming with a Carabao Cup hat-trick against Plymouth in August.
