Crystal Palace are looking to sign RB Leipzig winger Ademola Lookman who was on loan at Premier League rivals Fulham last season, as reported by The Athletic.
With just six weeks of the transfer window remaining, Steve Parish, Dougie Freedman and Patrick Vieira will barely have a spare minute between them until the end of August.
After losing 11 first-team players on free transfers, Crystal Palace’s training ground looks more like a kindergarten these days, with Vieira overseeing a squad made up largely of baby-faced youngsters as pre-season training got under way earlier this month.
The Eagles were even forced to cancel a friendly clash with Portsmouth this week, allegedly because they were struggling to put a squad together (The News).
New signings are required then – and fast.
Fortunately, RB Leipzig are unlikely to stand in Lookman’s way if Crystal Palace come calling.
Is Lookman heading back to the Premier League and Crystal Palace?
The former England U21 international has started just one Bundesliga game since joining the taurine-powered German giants from Everton for £16.2 million in 2019, and spent the whole of last season on loan at Fulham.
Lookman was one of the bright sparks in a difficult season for Scott Parker’s side – that panenka penalty aside, of course – and boasts that rare ability to produce something out of nothing, even if he currently lacks the consistency to back up his talent and potential.
A sustained spell in the Premier League – potentially at Crystal Palace – could be exactly what Lookman needs, however, with Vieira’s impressive record for developing youth suggesting Selhurst Park could be the ideal destination for a player who would get pulses racing in south London.
“(Lookman) has been in exceptional form and has really been Fulham’s most dangerous player in several games recently when they’ve been doing so well,” Vieira’s predecessor Roy Hodgson told London News Online in May.
The Sun, meanwhile, believes Leipzig would sell Lookman for £15 million.
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