Today marks the completion of Crystal Palace’s first signing of the Oliver Glasner era.
Due to the fact that Newcastle’s defeat at the end of April secured the team’s Premier League survival, Dougie Freedman has had an abundance of time to court potential transfer targets and persuade them to relocate to SE25.
Even though the transfer market doesn’t officially open until Friday, June 14th, Crystal Palace has already signed one target from Oliver Glasner.
Crystal Palace closes the Chadi Riad contract.
On Wednesday, we exclusively disclosed that Crystal Palace was nearing completion of a “complicated” contract to acquire Chadi Riad; the reason for the complications stemmed from Barcelona’s buyback provision.
However, according to Fabrizio Romano, all the wrinkles have now been ironed out. In fact, the dependable Italian journalist even confirmed this contract with his signature “here we go.”
It is said that following the €14 million (£12 million) agreement between Real Betis and Crystal Palace, Riad will sign a five-year contract that would last until the summer of 2029.
Based on Romano’s update, it appears that all the required documentation is prepared for signing – provided the Morocco international passes his medical.
The dependable Italian continues, “Riad is waiting to sign his contract, so these medical exams could happen next week.”
It follows a fantastic 2023–24 season for the 20-year-old central defender at Real Betis, where he made 26 appearances in La Liga and helped Manuel Pellegrini’s team qualify for the UEFA Conference League by placing seventh.
Outstanding company
What is the current state of Crystal Palace?
In the transfer market, we often take a long time to get underway, and our hiring practices have frequently seen to be more reactive than proactive.
But Freedman has already signed a contract, only a few days after bidding farewell to James Tomkins and Jairo Riedewald, two players who provided depth in central defence.
READ MORE: Chadi Riad’s biography. Meet the former Barcelona player who will be moving to Crystal Palace for £13 million.
The goal is to sign Glasner’s former Eintracht Frankfurt star on a free transfer, and there has also been speculation of the Glaswegian handing Lazio No. 6 Daichi Kamada a contract.
Fans of Crystal Palace should be ready for a very busy transfer window if this is an indication of things to come this summer, especially in light of uncertainty surrounding the futures of Michael Olise and Ebere Eze.
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