Reporter for The Sun Tom Barclay has told This is Futbol that Crystal Palace definitely wanted Nuno Espirito Santo or Lucien Favre during their search for a new manager.
Sky Sports reported that talks between Crystal Palace and Nuno broke down over the finances surrounding the deal, with the Guardian stating that Lucien Favre changed his mind at the last minute on replacing Roy Hodgson in the Selhurst Park dugout.
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Barclay believes that one of the two names would have been in charge had they said yes, telling This is Futbol: “Yeah, I mean Vieira was in the conversation and then they definitely wanted Nuno, that didn’t happen. Lucien Favre was literally like last minute changed his mind, so those guys would be in charge I believe if they had said yes.”
The Eagles opted to appoint Patrick Vieira as their new manager, with the former Nice, New York City and Manchester City Academy manager penning a contract for the next three seasons.
Prior to their 2-0 victory against Manchester City, Blues boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Vieira, telling reporters (via Yahoo Sport): “He’s changed the dynamic, the way Palace play, changing many things. They always had really good players.”
Vieira looked to recruit younger players during the summer, with Odsonne Edouard, Michael Olise, Jacob Montes, Marc Guehi, Joachim Anderson, Conor Gallagher and Will Hughes all putting pen-to-paper on deals at Selhurst Park [Sky Sports].