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Nottingham Forest have reportedly offered £35 million to sign Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Sean Dyche's side have, according to The Athletic, made a proposal to the South London club aimed at bringing French international Jean-Phillipe Mateta to the City Ground this month.
Mateta has entertained the idea of leaving Selhurst Park this month with personal terms reportedly not an issue. The 28-year-old was on Juventus' radar but the Serie A giants baulked at Palace's £40m asking price.
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Forest and Palace do not appear far apart in their respective valuations of the player, which could mean a transfer is possible before the February 2 deadline.
The two clubs have not seen eye-to-eye in the recent past after Forest took Palace's spot in this season's UEFA Europa League, due to administrative reasons.
Ordinarily, Palace would have qualified for the Europa League having won the 2025 FA Cup, but due to the fact former part-owner John Textor held a controlling stake in the club, as well as French side Olympique Lyonnais, Palace were demoted to the UEFA Europa Conference League - a tertiary competition.
Nottingham Forest executives made an official complaint to FIFA regarding Textor's controlling stakes in the two clubs, something which Palace fans did not take kindly to given the outcome.
If Mateta leaves Selhurst Park this month, it would be the latest development to a worrying trend which has seen Palace's FA Cup and Community Shield-winning team carved up, less than 12 months on from winning their first major honour.
Ebere Eze was signed by Arsenal last summer, whilst Marc Guehi was persuaded to stay an extra few months before eventually sealing a £20m switch to Manchester City last week.
Cup-winning head coach Oliver Glasner has gone on record to state he does not expect to continue as Palace boss next season, leaving the club without the core of their Wembley victory.
With Mateta seemingly headed for the exit door, too, a successful Forest bid would leave the Eagles worryingly short of proven talent to lead the team into 2026/27.
In FourFourTwo's opinion, Mateta to Forest makes sense for all concerned, except Palace. Since losing Dougie Freedman as sporting director, the club have struggled to retain and recruit a calibre of player akin to the likes of Guehi, Eze and Michael Olise.
Given Mateta's goalscoring record, he too falls into the category of Palace leaders, despite his tendency to occasionally frustrate supporters. Losing him to a team that could yet prove to be a relegation rival this season or next would suggest issues are Selhurst Park are more deep-rooted than they already appear.
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