EXCLUSIVE: Crystal Palace submit club-record £30m offer to sign Juventus attacker in January as Roy Hodgson seeks to solve Palace goalscoring problem
Crystal Palace have reportedly submitted a club-record £30 million bid to bring Juventus winger Mathias Soule to the Premier League during the January transfer window.
The Eagles don’t tend to make a habit of big-money signings. In fact, the last time they shattered their transfer record was back in 2016, when bringing in Cristian Benteke from Liverpool for a cool £27 million.
So those reports coming out of Italy, via Corriere dello Sport, can be interpreted in a number of ways. Perhaps Crystal Palace simply feel that Mathias Soule is an opportunity not to be missed. The sort of talent who doesn’t come around too often, and would be worth digging deep for.
Perhaps this is Steve Parish’s way of calming the fears of an exasperated fanbase, Palace sleepwalking towards a relegation battle at present.
Either way, the suggestion that Crystal Palace have offered a record fee of £30 million for the Juventus starlet, after making contact with the Serie A giants via intermediaries, should give the Selhurst Park supporters something to brighten their mood.
Soule is, after all, one of the brightest young attackers in all of Italy.
Soule is an entertainer, for sure, but with end-product too. He’s scored six goals in just 13 starts since joining Frosinone on loan over the summer.
“He can (play as) the right winger in a 4-3-3. But he could also play as a midfielder,” Frosinone sporting director, Guido Angelozzi, tells Tuttomercatoweb. “He has so much quality.
“Having had (Domenico) Berardi at Sassuolo, he reminds me of him. If he finds consistency with scoring goals, he will become a stratospheric player.”
Palace, while often keeping their purse-strings tightly drawn, have invested heavily in youth in recent seasons, bringing in Cheick Doucoure, Matheus Franca, Odsonne Edouard, Marc Guehi, Ebere Ezi and Michael Olise.
There are certainly shades of Olise in Soule too, and it remains to be seen if there is a way Roy Hodgson can fit two left-footed, right-sided attackers into the same system.
There is also interest from Newcastle in Soule. The Magpies chiefs reportedly discussed the winger with Juventus director Cristiano Guintoli recently.
