Crystal Palace will now make £15m bid for Liverpool target after finalising Romain Esse deal - journalist

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Crystal Palace announced their first signing of the winter transfer window on Saturday.

Romain Esse has now sealed his £14.5m move across south London from Millwall to Crystal Palace, signing a five-and-a-half year contract running until June 2030.

It was the icing on the cake in what has been a fine week for the Eagles, who now sit 12th in the Premier League after successive 2-0 wins away to Leicester and West Ham.

However, Crystal Palace are not done in the market just yet, with Dougie Freedman – Director of Football at Selhurst Park – now preparing a new £15m move for El Hadji Malick Diouf.

Crystal Palace to submit £15m El Hadji Malick Diouf bid

A story from Alan Nixon on Patreon now states that Crystal Palace will make a new attempt to bring the Senegal international to SE25.

Crystal Palace have already seen a £12.5m bid rejected for Diouf – who has enjoyed a great season for Slavia Prague so far with six goals and three assists in 18 Chance Liga appearances from left wing-back.

Nixon claims that the south Londoners travelled to Spain last week to watch the 20-year-old appear in a friendly for Slavia Prague, in an attempt to make progress in negotiations.

Liverpool are also in talks to sign Diouf – however – with Nottingham Forest keen as well, so Crystal Palace face some competition for the Slavia Prague No.12’s signature.

Nixon adds that Crystal Palace are also considering Rennes No.3 Adrien Truffert – although Diouf is the preferred target.

Slavia Prague could make Crystal Palace pay over the odds for El Hadji Malick Diouf

It remains to be seen how Slavia Prague respond to a new offer from Crystal Palace, although the Czech giants have already raised a fair bit of cash this month, and could no longer have any need to sell Diouf.

Slavia Prague have received £12.5m from Tottenham for Antonin Kinsky, while the Chance Liga outfit also made around £7m from the sale of Matej Jurasek to Norwich.

Therefore, with less need for cash this month, Slavia Prague could well demand a premium price from Crystal Palace for Diouf.