Oliver Glasner’s exit tour from Crystal Palace has already turned bitter, but it could still get worse if they sanction a £40m Nottingham Forest transfer…
We, like many other neutrals, have rooted for Palace as they have reached new heights under Glasner, having won the FA Cup for the first time in their history and earned a spot in Europe.
But with how modern-day football favours the elite, underdogs are not given much time to prosper, and it was never going to be long until Palace were put back in their box.
However, the manner in which Palace’s world has fallen apart has been more dramatic than even their most pessimistic of supporters could have anticipated.
The 2025/26 campaign had the potential to be another special season for Palace as they vie for European glory, more domestic silverware and a top-half finish in the Premier League, but none of these feats currently look possible.
READ: How Andoni Iraola is the Marc Guehi to Alexander Isak’s ‘vindicated’ Oliver Glasner
Amidst the uncertainty surrounding Glasner and several key players, Palace’s season has imploded during an 11-game winless run across all competitions.
During this stretch of results, they have suffered an embarrassing FA Cup exit at the hands of non-league Macclesfield Town, been knocked out of the Carabao Cup, had their Europa Conference League position weakened and been in freefall in the Premier League.
The latter of those should be of utmost concern, with performances clearly impacted by tensions boiling over behind the scenes.
Glasner, who is due to become a free agent in the summer, recently confirmed he would leave Palace at the end of this season, while it looked inevitable that these plans would be brought forward following his furious rant about the board.
The Austrian, who has his eyes on landing an elite manager’s job, clearly does not want to be dragged down by Palace and was keen to force through his sacking, but club chiefs had none of that and have given him a stay of execution until the summer.
You have to respect Palace’s backbone, but this conflict is showing little sign of easing, and transfers could also have a say in how poorly this season ends for the London outfit.
READ MORE: Who will be next manager of Crystal Palace after Oliver Glasner exit?
Palace have already cashed in on Marc Guehi in a sale to Manchester City worth just shy of £30m with add-ons, which is good business from the club given he had a mere six months remaining on his contract.
The timing of his exit also gives Palace plenty of wriggle room to land a suitable replacement, but we are much less forgiving of their stance on selling Jean-Philippe Mateta.
On Monday, a report from The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed Nottingham Forest have made a £35m offer to sign Mateta.
Ornstein added: ‘Palace will only consider selling Mateta if their valuation, which sources briefed on the matter say is a package worth around £40m ($54.8m), is met and they are able to sign a replacement.
‘The south London side are exploring multiple forward options, including Jorgen Strand Larsen of Wolverhampton Wanderers.’
Mateta’s contract situation is less pressing than Guehi’s was, but the striker is in the final 18 months of his deal and Palace are right to be open to the prospect of letting him go if he does not plan on extending his deal.
With the talk of him demanding a significant pay bump and Champions League football, Mateta’s future lies elsewhere and a move to Aston Villa/Juventus would have been acceptable.
However, with Villa signing Tammy Abraham as a cheaper alternative and Juventus not offering favourable terms, this leaves the door open to a potential move to Forest, which is far less suitable from Palace’s perspective.
As mentioned, Palace’s form has been so terrible that they have got to the stage of sleepwalking into a relegation battle, with only eight points separating Glasner’s side from resurgent West Ham.
So, given the very real risk of relegation, which would be the new nadir of Glasner’s exit tour, they surely cannot afford to sell Mateta to a relegation rival, especially considering Strand Larsen is clearly a downgrade at this stage.
It is simply too great a risk for Palace to sell Mateta to Forest at this point, with the club needing to block this transfer to limit the damage of their ongoing decline.
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