Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace: Dan Cook isn’t expecting club to follow up on interest in attacking ace

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Image for Crystal Palace: Dan Cook isn’t expecting club to follow up on interest in attacking ace

HLTCO podcast host Dan Cook doesn’t think Crystal Palace will make an offer for Morgan Gibbs-White this summer.

TalkSport’s resident transfer guru Alex Crook has told GiveMeSport that the Eagles have made the Wolves midfielder their ‘priority target’ as they look to fill the void left by Conor Gallagher, who starred while on loan at Selhurst Park last season.

However, Palace aren’t the only club credited with an interest, as Everton have already made a formal bid in the region of £20m, but the Molineux owners are standing firm and have no desire to sell the 22-year-old.

In fact, they have offered their academy graduate a new contract in the West Midlands in a bid to fend off potential suitors and as a reward for his improvement over the past year, where he enjoyed a productive loan spell at Sheffield United, scoring 12 goals and creating another 10 in the Championship.

Despite his attacking output, Cook doesn’t foresee an offer arriving from SE25, with the required transfer fee perhaps too much for the south London club to part with.

Speaking on the podcast, he said: “I can’t really square away the thought that Palace are going to put anything like that amount of money on the table for him.

“Obviously, there is a real desire from everyone at the football club to make sure we have a very solid midfield base going into the new season, but I’m just not sure £20m-plus on Morgan Gibbs-White makes logical sense for Crystal Palace.

“He is someone that I feel is overpriced at that valuation, or at least doesn’t necessarily fit in with our transfer budgets and exactly what we would be looking for, for that outlay.

“So as much as Crystal Palace, as I say, are being linked to him pretty regularly via different media outlets. I think it’s a little bit the case of two plus two equalling five.

“I don’t at this stage, envisage Crystal Palace going full steam ahead with a move for him. Obviously, I could be left with egg on my face in relation to that statement, and if that is the case, I will hold my hands up fully and openly, but purely based on gut feeling, as things stand, I’m just not 100% sold on the prospect of Crystal Palace making a formal offer of that size for Morgan Gibbs-White.”

TIF Thoughts on Gibbs-White and Palace…

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The club signed Lens enforcer Cheick Doucoure for an initial £18m but they will still need to add that creative flair.

They missed out on former Swansea City maestro Flynn Downes to West Ham United, and while Gibbs-White has been hailed as ‘outstanding’ by former Barnsley head coach Poya Asbaghi, he is still yet to prove himself in the top flight.

After 26 appearances in Wolves’ first campaign back in the top-flight in 2018/19, the England U21 international finished with a SofaScore rating for that season of 6.58, which would place him above just three Palace players from last term.

Paying £20m or more for a player who has played little over 500 Premier League minutes in the last three seasons does seem like a gamble, and although they may be unlikely to bring in someone who captured the level of form Gallagher managed as he earned his first England call-up, Palace will have to think carefully.

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