According to Le Progress, Crystal Palace have moved ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in the race for Joachim Andersen due to two main reasons.
What’s the story?
Le Progress are reporting that Palace are on the verge of signing Andersen from Lyon despite interest from Tottenham.
The Eagles will pay Lyon an initial transfer fee of €22 million (£18.79m) for the 25-year-old centre-back plus €5 million (£4.27m) in bonuses.
Tottenham were close to sealing a deal for Andersen, who spent last season on loan at Fulham, when Jose Mourinho was in charge.
However, Mourinho was sacked in April, and Nuno was recently appointed the new head coach of Spurs.
Italian transfer guru Fabio Paratici also left Juventus this summer to become Tottenham’s new managing director of football.
That change saw Spurs cool their interest in Andersen, allowing Palace to make their move.
The Eagles have also offered the 25-year-old more salary than Spurs did.
Are Tottenham Hotspur missing out?
It seems that Tottenham have moved on from Andersen and are now focused on signing Cristian Romero from Atalanta.
The Telegraph are reporting that Spurs will step up their attempts to sign the 23-year-old defender, who is going to cost over £40 million in transfer fee.
Paratici knows Romero, as it was him who signed the Argentina international for Juventus from Genoa in 2019.
Atalanta will exercise the clause to make the centre-back’s loan deal from Juventus permanent and then sell him to Spurs, if everything goes well.
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