Mamadou Sakho’s Crystal Palace Transfer Dies

With Liverpool rejecting Crystal Palace’s £22M rising to £25M bid for Mamadou Sakho earlier in the week, the French defender’s transfer to the London club always looked unlikely. It looked even less likely when they moved to sign Manchester City’s Eliaquim Mangala.

That deal, though, seemed for a moment to be in trouble earlier today with Mangala not keen to sign for Palace. That hesitancy, though, has been put to rest with the London club offering the player £120k per week to make the switch, and the deal is now done.

Palace will pay a base £18M fee plus £5M in potential add-ons for the player who was their clear second choice to Sakho. And now, with hours to go in the window, Liverpool will have to hope they didn’t just lose the club willing to pay the highest transfer fee to sign Sakho.

There has also been reported interest from West Brom and, more recently, Leicester City. Sakho, though, was believed to have previously blocked a move to West Brom, and with Palace now out of the running it is uncertain if either club will pay the £30M Liverpool want.