Oliver Glasner has said Jean-Philippe Mateta will not be in Crystal Palace’s squad to face Nottingham Forest on Sunday because the striker is “not at his best”, owing to uncertainty over his future.
Milan are understood to be hopeful of completing a deal for Mateta, having entered the race to sign him, though they have yet to reach the £40m asking price. The Italian club have offered a deal worth up to £35m for the 28-year-old, who has made no secret of his desire to leave to further his ambitions of a World Cup call-up in the summer.
Palace are believed to be considering the offer, having received a £35m bid from Forest last week that they have yet to respond to. They would prefer not to sell to a Premier League rival. Mateta has indicated that his preference is to move to Serie A and has agreed terms with Milan on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Glasner said Mateta would not travel with Palace to Forest but could not say whether Mateta had played his last game for the club.
“It’s nothing to do with the transfers, he is just not in the right place and doesn’t feel in the right place to play,” the manager said. “It makes no sense. I have to protect the team and that is why he will not travel with us to the game. There’s so much noise and speculation – you need every single payer at his best, and JP isn’t at his best right now with all the noise that happens. If somebody has some private issues that he can’t really focus on football then it makes no sense to play him because then he can’t help the team or perform on the top level.”
Juventus were also interested in Mateta and have made a late attempt to sign Evann Guessand from Aston Villa despite Palace agreeing a loan deal with an option to make his move permanent at the end of the season. Palace are understood to be confident they will add the Ivory Coast forward to Glasner’s squad before Monday’s deadline.
Talks with Wolves over Jørgen Strand Larsen remain on ice, with Palace yet to formalise their verbal agreement to sign the Norway striker for £45m, plus £5m in add-ons. His potential arrival is thought to depend on Mateta leaving but there are believed to be concerns among the Palace hierarchy about paying such a fee, which would smash the club’s record of £35m spent on Brennan Johnson this month.
Palace have had two bids for Sidiki Cherif rebuffed by Angers and the 19-year-old striker has informed the French club he would rather join Fenerbahce. Glasner, asked whether he expected any arrivals before the deadline, with a central defender to replace Marc Guéhi also on the agenda, said: “The club is working almost 24 hours a day. You can imagine it’s not so easy at the end of January but I see the club working really hard to get players in. But to be clear, it can be that JP stays and is still a Palace player on 2 February or it could be that JP has left and we have a new striker at the club.”
