Crystal Palace sign exciting defender and £25m Eze replacement in £220m dream XI – if rumours prove true
What Crystal Palace’s starting XI could look like next season – if transfer rumours prove true.
After a slow start to the 2024/25 season, Crystal Palace have started to purr a little bit and their performances are raising hopes that the club could push on and challenge for European qualification next season – but they’ll have to work hard in the summer transfer market to maintain forward momentum.
That’s because a string of their star players are being linked with moves away from Selhurst Park. Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton, Marc Guéhi and Jean-Philippe Mateta have all become regular fodder for transfer rumours and the chances that all four are being managed by Oliver Glasner next season seem to be slim to none.
So which are most likely to leave, and how will Palace fill the holes left behind? We’ve combed through the most plausible transfer stories to figure out a possible starting XI for the Eagles next season, with new faces, a couple of fan favourites gone, and a total of just under £220m worth of talent…
Palace fought tooth and nail to keep Guéhi from leaving for Newcastle United last season, but we suspect that they will find the pressure to sell harder to resist this time around, with Chelsea and Liverpool also linked with a summer bid for the England centre-back – of all the stars linked with a move away from Selhurst Park, Guéhi looks like the most likely to leave as it stands.
With him gone, we suspect we’ll see Palace use the cash to splash out on at least two new centre-backs. Trevoh Chalobah, who was on loan for the first half of the current season before being recalled, is likely to be a player Chelsea are keen to sell due to his home-grown status, and we would be surprised if Palace didn’t look at a permanent deal. £40m was the alleged valuation back in January, but given Chelsea’s desperation to sell this summer, we suspect they’ll settle for less.
