Crystal Palace leave it late to seal Michy Batshuayi loan deal from Chelsea

Michy Batshuayi had to wait until the hours after the transfer deadline before finally seeing his future resolved with the Belgium international joining Crystal Palace from Chelsea on loan until the end of the season.

The striker, who had endured a difficult first half of the campaign on loan at Valencia, has cost a loan fee of around £1m. The clubs involved submitted a deal sheet by the 11pm cut-off to extend the time available to conclude the deal. Batshuayi had first been offered to Palace in December as Chelsea sought to secure him greater game time, only for the 25-year-old subsequently to set his heart on a move to Monaco, a transfer that was ditched when Thierry Henry was dismissed by the Ligue 1 club.

That left Batshuayi in limbo. A number of clubs had surfaced as potential suitors over the last few days with Valencia having made clear they did not want to retain Batshuayi, but were keen not to incur a penalty due for the premature curtailment of his original year-long deal at the Mestalla.

Chelsea had explored selling the player to Everton for around £40m only for the fee to be prohibitive, and with the Merseyside club already boasting Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea on their books.

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February 1, 2019

West Ham and Real Betis emerged on deadline day as potential destinations but both opted against paying the fees involved. The player’s representatives even tried pushing their client towards Tottenham, though that deal would have been politically difficult to conclude.

There was a risk Batshuayi would be left on the sidelines for the second half of the season, his value dropping, prompting Chelsea to offer the striker to Fulham and Palace late on Thursday. The latter were receptive, with a deal duly thrashed out while the player waited for confirmation in Spain.

Palace had come close to securing the Belgian in the summer of 2016 when he was at Marseille having bid a club record fee in excess of £30m for his services, only for Chelsea to emerge late to trump that offer.

The forward played a bit-part role under Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge but scored the goal that won the title at West Brom. His tally stands at 19 in 53 appearances for the club, though he was more prolific, with nine in 14 games, in a loan spell at Borussia Dortmund last season.

Everton reject PSG’s £26.2m offer for Gueye

Everton rejected a late £26.2m (€30m) bid from Paris Saint-Germain for Idrissa Gueye despite the midfielder’s request to join the French champions. PSG returned with a second offer for the Senegal international late on deadline day but, as with their opening £21.5m approach last week, it was insufficient to break Everton’s resolve to keep the 29-year-old at Goodison Park.

The deal would have given Everton a healthy profit on Gueye, who they signed for a release clause of £7.1m from Aston Villa in 2016, but Marco Silva was determined to resist advances for an integral part of his team. The stance could leave him with an unhappy player for the remainder of the season, however, as Gueye was set on a move to Paris and had urged Everton not to block a dream move to the Champions League contenders.

Gueye has three years remaining of a £75,000-a-week contract at Everton and his situation may be reviewed in the summer. Everton did sanction a series of loans for academy players such as Beni Baningime and Callum Connolly and also cancelled Cuco Martina’s loan deal with Stoke City before loaning the defender out again to Feyenoord. The Dutch club can make the deal permanent this summer.

Yannick Bolasie joined Anderlecht on loan until the end of the season. The winger, who spent the first half of the campaign on loan at Villa, travelled to Belgium to finalise the deal and undergo a medical on Thursday.

source: theguardian.com