Crystal Palace are about to pull of a shock move by beating Newcastle United and Chelsea to the signature of one of the most promising young Brazilian midfielders in the form of Matheus Franca.
Two weeks ago it was reported by Fabrizio Romano that Crystal Palace had made a formal proposal for Newcastle target Matheus Franca and now it looks like things have progressed to the point where the transfer is about to go through.
London World have reported that a £26million bid has been accepted and Franca is England-bound to seal the deal.
Newcastle tried to sign Franca in January
Newcastle have been long-time admirers of the 19-year-old attacker, failing with bid to bring him to Tyneside in January and then promising to return again this summer.
Flamengo inserted a £176million release clause into Franca’s latest contract in order to fend off interest from Newcastle, but were realistically holding out for around £30million after Newcastle had offered £21million. It looks as though Palace were paying attention and have met Flamengo in the middle.
Whether or not Newcastle kept their promise to Franca this summer is unknown, but it does seem unlikely with the youngster now on his way to Roy Hodgson’s Palace.
Newcastle need defensive options over new attackers
Palace need to replace Wilfried Zaha who left Selhurst Park this summer to head to Galatasaray, and Matheus Franca definitely has what it takes to fill that void having been described as ‘fantastic‘ by Botofogo owner John Textor.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s midfield is already extremely stacked, so as good as it would have been to bring in one of the world’s hottest prospects, he’s not somebody we really need right now.
Eddie Howe‘s attention is best served looking to increase the options available in defence with a new full-back and right-sided centre-back needed to round out the squad.
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