For Crystal Palace, the 2024 summer transfer window wasn’t supposed to be quite this fun.
With Ebere Eze, Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta attracting interest – the talismanic trio who took the Premier League by storm under Oliver Glasner – The Eagles were told by party-pooping reporters and parade-raining pundits alike that the fun times would be fleeting.
That this flowing, free-scoring frontline would be broken up soon enough.
But while that may well be true – Olise is expected to depart amid interest from his boyhood club Manchester United – it is the potential incomings rather than the feared outgoings which are getting Crystal Palace supporters talking at present.
In Chadi Riad, Palace are closing in on a £12.8 million deal for one of the most talented young defenders in Spanish football. Riad, a Barcelona academy graduate, is expected to arrive imminently from Real Betis.
Daichi Kamada, meanwhile, already feels like one of the biggest coups of the window, even as early as June 3rd. This time last year, before joining Lazio from Eintracht Frankfurt, Kamada was on the radars of Liverpool and AC Milan after scoring 16 goals from attacking midfield at the Bundesliga outfit.
Crystal Palace target nears controversial Lazio exit
The reaction surrounding his likely arrival at Selhurst Park – and his departure from the Stadio Olimpico – could hardly be more different, however.
Lazio director Angelo Fabiani made no attempt to hide his frustration on Friday, lambasting an ‘unacceptable’ situation after Lazio were missed out on the chance to trigger the extension clause in Kamada’s contract.
As such, the silky Japan international is now free to leave the Italian capital on a free transfer.
Lazio president Claudio Lotito is equally unhappy. The phrase ‘good riddance’ comes to mind, from a Biancocelesi perspective.
“There’s a lot to do,” Lotito begins, speaking to Corriere dello Sport. “I’m tired of players who think they can blackmail us. We want people attached to the shirt.
“For Kamada, (his camp) they asked us for a one-year renewal and a signing bonus of 2.5 million euros. But, here, anyone who thinks they can blackmail us falls badly.
“We will send away all the players who turn out to be mercenaries and we will start from scratch.”
Kamada, then, is not exactly Mr Popular at Lazio. His situation feels increasingly untenable too, relations between club and player broken to such an extent that a sudden U-turn and an eventual fresh start feels impossible.
Daichi Kamada could reunite with Oliver Glasner
HITC reported on Friday that Crystal Palace had entered talks with the silky attacking midfielder, who should help offset the potential loss of Olise albeit from a more central role rather than out wide. A reunion with Glasner, with whom he won the Europa League title at Frankfurt in 2022, is understood to appeal greatly to the 27-year-old.
“On May 30th, the renewal clause for Kamada expired. We found ourselves faced with something unexpected,” Fabiani explained.
“I clearly said that we would not submit to this situation. This is unacceptable. The agents and the players must understand that whoever wears the Lazio shirt must love it.
“In football everyone is important, but no one is indispensable.”
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