. Premier League Elite Keep Tabs On Nottingham Forest Wonderkid Ben Brereton
Crystal Palace have launched their bid to sign £10million-rated Patrick van Aanholt from Sunderland.
Palace have made an initial offer of around £6m plus around £2m add-ons which will be rejected but Sam Allardyce is hopeful he can reach agreement with his former club.
Sunderland though will not allow Van Aanholt to leave until they have found a replacement.
Manager David Moyes is willing to sacrifice the 26-year-old Dutchman for much-needed funds to strengthen elsewhere.
Moyes has resisted West Ham’s offers for Jermain Defoe because his goals are priceless to the team’s cause and while Van Aanholt has had a good season, a more defensive left-back may be required for the relegation fight ahead.
Palace have made offers for Robbie Brady at Norwich City and Jeffrey Schlupp at Leicester City while they hope to sign Carl Jenkinson from Arsenal, a target for West Ham too.
Allardyce also wants to add a midfielder and has discussed a potential move for Sevilla’s £30m-rated Vicente Iborra.
A Palace delegation is understood to have travelled to Spain this week for talks with Sevilla but their offer fell well short of the Spanish club’s valuation.
Iborra was a target for West Brom and Sunderland last summer and considered available but he has made 23 appearances and Sevilla were steadfast in their valuation for their club captain.
Allardyce maintains that Christian Benteke will not be sold this window and, despite lucrative offers from China, the Belgium international has no wish to move to the Far East at this stage.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton sent staff to watch Nottingham Forest forward Ben Brereton this week.
The tall 17-year-old laboured to impress though as Forest lost 4-1 in their FA Youth Cup tie at Stoke City.
Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham were also present as 11 Premier League clubs were represented in the stands at the Bet365 Stadium to see Brereton give a tireless display.
Brereton has scored 15 goals in 20 Under-23 games this season and England U18 coach Neil Dewsnip also took the opportunity to take a closer look at him in the game.
Forest Under-18s coach Gareth Holmes told the Nottingham Post: ‘Ben is tremendous. Look at his performance. He never wavered in his application. He’s ticking a lot of boxes. This defeat will disappoint him, but he’ll play in bigger games than this.’
Liverpool and Manchester United are willing to make an offer for the promising teenager.
Another player who impressed on the night was Tyrese Campbell, son of former Everton and Arsenal striker Kevin, who scored a hat-trick for Stoke.
Crystal Palace were among the clubs represented at Congo against Senegal on Wednesday to watch midfielder Papa N’Diaye.
The 26-year-old from Osmanlispor scored in Senegal’s 2-0 win and was named man of the match
N’Diaye is available for £6m and Palace have been discussing the chance to bring him in but face competition from the likes of Everton who also had scouts at the game.
N’Diaye’s goal, Senegal’s second, came late in the first half. After good work from Liverpool winger Sadio Mane, N’Diaye showed composure to evade a diving challenge before slotting home.
Marseille remain keen to engineer a return for Dimitri Payet in January though West Ham are refusing to sell in this window.
Marseille proposed an offer of around £18m plus add-ons at the start of the month which West Ham justifiably dismissed.
The France international has told manager Slaven Bilic he no longer wants to play for the Hammers.
Payet had grown attached to the supporters but was hopeful of the team competing for European football this season and at 29 considers time to be running out for him to go to a side that can win trophies.
West Ham have been concerned as he has missed some training sessions and his performances portrayed a lack of commitment.
He signed a contract last February which consists of around £68,000 basic a week with £25,000 an appearance, a £1million signing on fee plus bonuses to take his weekly package to around £125,000 a week.
PSG, Inter and Shanghai Shenhua have all shown an interest over the past year.