'Significant interest': Manager now admits Crystal Palace are the 'main' candidates to sign his £12m attacker
Yesterday at 01:21 PM
Crystal Palace are yet to make a signing this month – although the Eagles are trying.
Dougie Freedman – Director of Football at Selhurst Park – has already submitted two bids as the Glaswegian aims to help Oliver Glasner move the south Londoners away from 15th in the Premier League.
| Position | Team | PlayedMP | WonW | DrawnD | LostL | ForGF | AgainstGA | DiffGD | PointsPts |
| 15 | Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 21 | 28 | -7 | 21 |
TBR Football understand Crystal Palace will bid again for Ben Doak after Liverpool rejected a £15m offer for the Scotland international – while Freedman has also bid £12.5m for El Hadji Malick Diouf of Slavia Prague.
With those deals still in the balance, Alex Neil – Manager of Millwall – has now made an interesting comment about another player Crystal Palace want to sign in Romain Esse.
Alex Neil admits Crystal Palace are the “main” candidates to sign Romain Esse from Millwall
The 43-year-old told the South London Press earlier on Thursday: “There is interest from Crystal Palace. It has been well-documented. How far down the line that is, I'm not quite sure.
“All I do know is there has been significant interest from Crystal Palace. That is the only one I can comment on because interest and paper talk doesn't really matter, that could be true or false. As far as I know right now, Crystal Palace are the main one.”
Esse is believed to have a £12m release clause written into his contract at The Den.
The Millwall No.25 has scored four goals and provided one assist in 23 Championship appearances so far this season – tormenting defenders out on the right flank, where he often cuts inside on his stronger left foot.
Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman know Romain Esse’s agent well
Interestingly, the 19-year-old is represented by Herve Zaha, the brother of Wilfried Zaha.
Zaha – who works as a consultant for Unique Sports Management – represented his brother during his time at Selhurst Park, and is also known to have helped oversee Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s £50m move from Crystal Palace to Manchester United in June 2019.
