Crystal Palace are now ready to make a bid for a Premier League attacker after sealing their first signing of the summer.
Chadi Riad signs for Crystal Palace
It could turn out to be a relatively busy summer at Selhurst Park in the transfer market ahead of Oliver Glasner’s first full season in charge.
Steve Parish, Dougie Freedman and co have already secured the Eagles’ first addition of the window, with defender Chadi Riad joining from Real Betis.
Speaking after completing his move last week, the Morocco international said: “I’m really happy to join Crystal Palace. I was interested in coming here because of the history of the club, and the league in which it plays. They have been telling me how they played this year and I think it complements perfectly the way I play.
“The club has high-level players who are young and I have come here to follow their same trajectory, to grow as they have grown.”
Someone who Riad may not get the chance to play with at Palace is Michael Olise. There has been plenty of speculation regarding Olise and a move away this summer, while there have also been rumours of Eberechi Eze departing.
Should one, or both of Olise and Eze leave the club, then Palace will need creative attacking reinforcements, and it looks as if they are planning their move for one specific target.
Crystal Palace ready Reiss Nelson bid
According to CaughtOffside, Crystal Palace are ready to make an opening bid for Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson in the region of €10m (£8.45m). The Gunners want €25m (£21.1m) for the 24-year-old, with the Eagles even beginning talks to secure a move.
Crystal Palace aren’t alone, though, with Fulham and West Ham United also named as suitors for Nelson, who is now no longer in Mikel Arteta’s first-team plans at the Emirates.
Nelson, on £100,000-a-week in north London, has struggled for game time, contributing to four goals in 747 minutes of game time during the 2023/24 season.
He did receive praise from Arteta last year, though, with the Spaniard calling the winger “important” after his winner against Bournemouth. “I always saw the potential,” Arteta said of Nelson.
“The talent and the desire for him to do it, but he’s at a different level right now. I think emotionally, the experiences that he had helped him. Football-wise, it was my decision in the last two games not to play him because we had other options. But he was knocking on the door, he’s been training really good and it’s a good lesson for me and for the coaches that we need him and that he can be really important for the team.”
Nelson has made 89 senior appearances for the Gunners in total, scoring eight times and registering nine assists, and by the look of it, a move across London to Palace, Fulham or West Ham is one to watch this summer.
