Nottingham Forest bid for Jean-Philippe Mateta adds edge to Crystal Palace visit | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest have lodged a £35million bid for Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, adding spice to Sunday’s meeting at the City Ground. According to NY Times, the Frenchman has been Palace’s leading scorer in each of the past two seasons.

The move comes amid friction after Palace were demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League in the summer, with UEFA and then CAS ruling on multi-club ownership breaches. Forest took Palace’s Europa League place and an FA charge followed in August over a Selhurst Park banner that appeared to depict owner Evangelos Marinakis. A home win would take Forest level on points with Palace.

Personal terms would not be an issue, though hurdles remain. Palace want closer to £40million for a player contracted until 2027 and would look to secure a replacement, with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jorgen Strand Larsen among options. Juventus, Milan and Aston Villa have also shown interest.

Forest signed Italy forward Lorenzo Lucca on loan from Napoli last week, with a £34.7million option to buy, and he could debut on Sunday. They also retain interest in Mehdi Taremi of sister club Olympiacos, along with Strand Larsen.

Palace are winless in 11 in all competitions, a run in which Mateta has scored once across 10 appearances. He has been managing a knee issue, with Oliver Glasner choosing not to risk him on Macclesfield’s artificial surface in their recent FA Cup defeat.

Forest see Mateta as a powerful runner who links play as well as scores. He has 17 goals last season, 19 in 2023-24 and 10 this term before his recent dip. Despite seven points from their past three league games, Forest have 23 goals, with only bottom club Wolves on 15 scoring fewer.

Source: NY Times