Crystal Palace have made an offer worth up to £14m for Wolfsburg’s Maxence Lacroix as they step up their attempts to recruit a replacement for Joachim Andersen after accepting a bid of £30m for the Denmark defender from Fulham.
Andersen, who had less than two years of his contract at Selhurst Park remaining, is set to have his medical on Wednesday after Fulham made a breakthrough in negotiations by matching Palace’s valuation.
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Marco Silva’s side had a £20m offer rejected earlier in the window but were determined to re-sign the player who spent a season on loan at Craven Cottage during the 2020-21 season before moving to Palace on a permanent deal from Lyon. Andersen is understood to have agreed a significant pay rise as part of his contract with Fulham.
Lacroix, who played under Oliver Glasner during his spell in charge of Wolfsburg, has entered the final year of his contract and is believed to be keen to reunite with the Austrian manager. Palace’s offer of an initial £12m contains a potential £2m in bonuses which it is hoped will tempt the German side into a sale. Palace are also believed to have shown an interest in Benfica’s Tomás Araújo, Bayer Leverkusen’s Odilon Kossounou and Trevoh Chalobah of Chelsea.
The decision to allow Andersen to depart raises more questions over the future of Marc Guéhi at Selhurst Park. Palace have rejected multiple bids for the England defender from Newcastle, who have now opened talks with Leverkusen over a potential move for the Burkina Faso defender Edmond Tapsoba. The Magpies have also been linked with Chelsea’s Axel Disasi. “I can’t imagine a situation where we would lose both of our centre-halves,” said Palace chairman Steve Parish last week.
Andersen looks set to be joined at Fulham by Sander Berge after Burnley accepted an offer of £25m for the Norway midfielder. Berge has been earmarked as a replacement for João Palhinha following his move to Bayern Munich earlier in the summer, with Fulham having already signed Emile Smith Rowe, Jorge Cuenca and Ryan Sessegnon.