Chelsea have reportedly agreed a deal to loan out Axel Disasi to Crystal Palace, after once again failing to sell the defender permanently.
Much was expected of Disasi when he moved from Monaco to Stamford Bridge in 2023 in a transfer worth over £38million.
He was a key player under Mauricio Pochettino but upon Enzo Maresca’s arrival he was dumped into the ‘bomb squad’ and has not played for Chelsea in over 18 months.
During that time he has made temporary switches to Aston Villa and West Ham, and is now set for a third loan spell, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that Chelsea and Palace have reached a verbal agreement after weeks of speculation.
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It is said the France international will undergo his medical on Friday, the day before Palace kick-off their season with a trip to Everton.
Moreover, the Eagles will cover the 28-year-old’s salary and pay a small-ish loan fee to the Blues, rumoured to be around £5m, though there will be no obligation or option to buy clause.
While Chelsea have managed to offload a player not wanted by Xabi Alonso, the deal is a far cry from what the club were hoping for, with rumours earlier this summer suggesting they wished to sell Disasi for £25m.
Negotiations for Disasi began almost immediately after Chelsea secured the signing of Palace centre-back Maxence Lacroix for £52m.
New Eagles manager Pierre Sage admitted on Thursday that the club were working to recruit a suitable replacement but, understandably, would not address the Disasi rumours directly.
‘Yes, we need a player in this department,’ the Frenchmen said in his pre-Everton press conference.
‘We need a player with a lot of games, if possible in Premier League because we need players but we need a leader. That’s why we need to wait a little bit to find a good one.
‘He [Disasi] is a player from Chelsea, it’s difficult for me to speak about a player of another club, but I hear the same noise as you.
‘Maybe one or two [more signings] and we have time. We don’t want to [just] take a player, we want to take a good player for us. That’s why it’s not just one or two guys, because we have to work with these guys during the season, sometimes it’s better to wait.’
Lacroix is the only major sale Palace have made this summer and Sage has boldly stated that no other key player will depart Selhurst Park before deadline day.
That includes England midfielder Adam Wharton, who is valued at £100m and has been the subject of an enquiry by Manchester City: ‘Now it’s not the moment to do that [sell him].
‘He is able to play at a big club here or everywhere in Europe but one year with us, one year with a new dynamic will be good for him. We need him, that’s why I think he will stay with us.’
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