Newcastle transfer shattered as Crystal Palace ‘reach agreement’ to sell defender for £30m
In a potential blow to Newcastle United, Crystal Palace have reportedly agreed to sell centre-back Joachim Andersen to London rivals Fulham.
Andersen spent 2020/21 on loan at Fulham, completing a permanent move to Crystal Palace after a solid year in the Premier League.
The Eagles paid around £15million for the Danish international in July 2021. He has played 113 times for the London club.
Marco Silva has been chasing a new centre-back for weeks, with his side being linked with Aston Villa’s Diego Carlos following the departure of Tosin Adarabioyo on a free transfer to Chelsea and Tim Ream to Charlotte FC.
It looks like he has got his man in Andersen, who was managed by Scott Parker during his year at Craven Cottage and has been linked with his former club for several weeks, with a couple of bids failing.
The 28-year-old has been a crucial player for Crystal Palace and started all 38 Premier League games last season as Oliver Glasner’s side finished 10th.
Crystal Palace selling Andersen is bad news for Newcastle
According to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Fulham ‘have reached an agreement’ with Palace having ‘compromised on a fee of around £30m including add-ons’.
A deal has not been finalised yet with ‘all parties working on’ getting it over the line.
With Palace agreeing to sell Andersen for £30m, they are now extremely unlikely to let Marc Guehi join Newcastle.
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Eagles owner Steve Parish has previously admitted that he “can’t imagine a situation where we’d lose both of our centre-halves”, which we all knew was very unlikely anyway.
Newcastle have reportedly had four bids rejected for Guehi, with Palace holding out for £70m.
Their asking price will probably increase now that Andersen is closing in on a move to Fulham, and there is no chance the Magpies will put £80m on the table.
Who Eddie Howe’s side turn their attention to now is anyone’s guess. Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah has been mooted as an alternative, while reports from Spain say they are keen on FC Barcelona’s Andreas Christensen.
Newcastle fans are rightly frustrated with their side’s pursuit of Guehi having spent the whole month working on a deal, only to fail and be left trying to find an alternative.
Ornstein followed up on the Andersen report by stating that Newcastle are interested in Chelsea’s Axel Disasi and Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba as alternatives to Guehi.
It is claimed that the Magpies are yet to close the door on their pursuit of the England defender, though ‘their work on contingency plans has been intensified’.
Ornstein says there is ‘dialogue taking place’ between the Premier League club and Leverkusen, while they have ‘expressed an interest’ in Disasi.
Signing Tapsoba should not be straightforward as Fabrizio Romano has previously claimed he is deemed ‘untouchable’ by Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso.
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