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Crystal Palace: Finance expert discusses Alexander Sorloth

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Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has been discussing the situation regarding Crystal Palace’s out-on-loan striker Alexander Sorloth.

The 24-year-old Norwegian is currently one year through a two-year loan with Trabzonspor (per Transfermarkt) and in his first season, he bagged a whopping 33 goals and 11 assists in 49 appearances for the Turkish club (per Transfermarkt).

However, it seems unlikely that the forward will be returning to Selhurst Park, as Trabzonspor have an obligation to buy Sorloth for just £5.5m if he plays 50% of their matches next season (per Express).

It is stated in the Express’ report that Trabzonspor president Ahmet Agaoglu will trigger the clause early in order to then sell the prolific forward to a German or Spanish club, which Palace are ‘powerless’ to stop.

So, in the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire discussed Sorloth and what the Eagles could do to get him back.

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He said: “I think, without seeing the small print of his loan arrangement with Crystal Palace, we’ve got to be a little bit cautious here.

“It would be potentially possible for Palace to buy him out of the second year of his loan arrangement. There is a precedent for this in the case of somebody called Alexis Mac Allister.

“Now, Alexis was playing for Argentinos Juniors. He was then sold to my club Brighton for around about £7m but because he didn’t have a work permit, he couldn’t play in the Premier League.

“So, we then loaned him back to Boca Juniors until he got an Argentinian cap and then last January, when things were looking a little bit [worrying] for us, we bought back our own player for £700,000 as a loan fee to buy him back from his original loan.

“So, what Palace could do, is that Palace could get into negotiations with Trabzonspor and buy Sorloth back effectively out of his two-year loan fee and then sell him to another club.”

TIF Thoughts…

As can be seen in what the football finance expert had to say, he believes there could be a way for the Eagles to get the striker back to Selhurst Park despite the Express saying they were ‘powerless‘.

Do you think there is any chance of getting Alexander Sorloth back to Selhurst Park?

No, it won't happen

No, it won't happen

Yes, it is possible

Yes, it is possible

With Sorloth’s value having ballooned from £5.4m in the summer of last year to a whopping £18m now (per Transfermarkt), it seems likely that Palace will be hoping that the striker does not leave permanently for £5.5m.

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