Crystal Palace chief ‘genuinely astonished’ Arsenal, Man City didn’t swoop for £68m England star
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish was “genuinely astonished” that none of the Premier League Big Six attempted to sign Eberechi Eze in the summer.
Big six clubs like Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal were primmed to sign the 26-year-old as he had a £60 million release club in his contract.
None of the clubs mentioned triggered that figure despite his impressive form in the Premier League and other competitions for Palace. There were reports that a £68 million fee could be agreed later in the summer transfer window amid interest from Man City and Arsenal but no team made a move. This shocked Palace chairman Steve Parish.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “I was really worried from a club point of view of losing Michael and Ebbs in the same window and we didn’t have in Ebbs the interest that I thought we would have.
“I was astounded. Genuinely astounded. I mean, the guy’s just an outstanding footballer, an outstanding person.”
The English winger shone for Palace last season and made his mark at Euro 2024, making three appearances off the bench for Gareth Southgate in Germany.
Palace had a busy transfer window with various players seeking interest from other clubs. One of their most sought-after players is Marc Guehi, who was the subject of a £65m bid from Newcastle in the summer.
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Parish explained why this offer was rejected: “I don’t think the window worked out exactly the same format that we thought it would,” Parish admitted. “Maybe we thought at the beginning it’d be more likely that Marc Guehi went and we kept Joachim Andersen.
“We accepted that bid [for Andersen] which then made it very difficult really to sell both of our starting centre-backs in one window.
“That’s not to say it wasn’t still an outside possibility that we got to the right number but then Chadi Riad got injured. That doesn’t look quite as bad as it seems but it still left us very light and really made it impossible for us to consider at that point.
“We want to be selling to the top clubs, or to clubs like Newcastle who’ve got great aspirations and have recently been in the Champions League.
“So we have to manage all of those things. We won’t get really great young talent to come to us if they think they’re going to be stuck.
“We want to be playing in the Champions League. The reality is we don’t right now. That’s what players want to achieve in their career and we respect that and we respect the fact that sometimes we’re going to be a pathway to that.”
Palace have had a disappointing start to the season, obtaining only one point from their opening three matches. Palace fans will be glad to see the likes of Eze and Guehi remain at Selhurst Park.
