By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Crystal Palace appear to be cooling their interest in last season’s West Ham loanee, Axel Disasi.
The central defender, who remains on Chelsea’s books, is believed to have rejected the chance to join Nuno Espírito Santo for a second spell this season, understandably preferring Premier League football over a campaign in the Championship.
Until the last few days, Palace were widely believed to be the frontrunners for the Frenchman’s signature. However, it now appears they have turned their attention elsewhere.
Palace exploring other options
The Eagles have held talks with Augsburg centre-back Chrislain Matsima and are also reported to be interested in Brest defender Raphaël Le Guen. They are also giving former Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu the opportunity to impress, with Disasi no longer appearing to be at the top of their shortlist.
Chelsea are about to undergo a revolution under new head coach Xabi Alonso and it seems Disasi is not part of those plans.
Serie A side Roma are also believed to be interested in the twice-capped France international, but Palace’s apparent change of direction could leave the door slightly ajar for other clubs.
Could West Ham return?
With former ExWHUEmployee indicating yesterday that the Hammers are reluctant to give up on their first-choice transfer targets, it may be that Espírito Santo has not entirely abandoned hopes of bringing Disasi back to the London Stadium.
It’s also worth remembering that the 28-year-old spent much of January making it clear he had no intention of joining West Ham, only to sign on transfer deadline day.
Perhaps that alone will give the club’s owners some encouragement that this particular transfer saga may not be over just yet.
Pay Chelsea the 25m & pay him the wages he’s on at Chelsea and tell him we will increase them to 100k if we go up and if we don’t go up his selling price will be 15m. That might do the trick, and risking 10m on him getting us up in comparison to the premiership rewards looks good value
Pay Chelsea the 25m & pay him the wages he’s on at Chelsea and tell him we will increase them to 100k if we go up and if we don’t go up his selling price will be 15m. That might do the trick, and risking 10m on him getting us up in comparison to the premiership rewards looks good value
We should go after harwood-Bellis who is a very good centre back.
You know I’m right gonzo.
yep tote’s agree with Timbo , were we better because of Axel ? or was he just better at defending than the completely off form and out of confidence Max ? ? perhaps anyone would have been a better option in the middle of defence but we’ll just never know now . think up to that point we just had an unreliable defence behind an unreliable midfield behind a misfiring attack ! i don’t think anyone of any substance is going to sign up until the last knockings when their other favoured options have remained unfulfilled , so probably need to address the issue with somebody who wants to play for the club and who can actually compete at that level as otherwise i feel we just might remain disappointed with our expectations x
Should never bite the hand that feeds you.
Grass is not always greener on other side.
Why go somewhere you’re only 4th choice when you could go to place with open arms
He’s known for wanting to take his time to consider all options. At best I would say 20% chance of him choosing us, but we will probably have to hold on until the season has started and therefore risk missing out on other targets. In my opinion, we should line someone else up and give him one last chance to accept.