£14.5m bid rejected, new offer made, replacement signed - Crystal Palace Cheick Doucoure latest

Crystal Palace’s continued pursuit of Lens midfielder Cheick Doucoure has now taken another step forward as the Eagles have reportedly upped their bid for the highly-coveted Mali international.

Doucoure is said to be Palace’s number one transfer target this summer and is said to have already agreed on personal terms with Patrick Vieira’s side. The sticking point at the moment is agreeing on a transfer fee, but it’s not just Palace in discussions with Lens, with several other Premier League clubs reportedly talking to the French side about the midfielder.

With more twists and turns in the deal expected to follow, have taken the chance to map out how we got to this point, with Palace now said to be upping their initial offer for Doucoure in order to push the deal through as soon as possible.

With discussions over a new deal for Cheikhou Kouyate not progressing and James McArthur nearing the end of his career, a deep-lying midfielder was always going to be a priority area for strengthening in the market. Palace have been keeping on Doucoure as a long-term solution for a while, but news that the club would be targeting him during the upcoming summer transfer window began in mid-April with the announcement that preliminary meetings between the Eagles and Doucoure’s agents had already taken place.

Vieira has already seen Doucoure up close while he was managing Nice in Ligue 1, most recently watching the Malian from the touchline in August 2020 as Lens lost 2-1 at the Allianz Riviera.

With the Premier League season closing in May and the start of the transfer window appearing on the horizon, the number of Premier League clubs interested in Doucoure slowly increased. By the end of May, Arsenal, Everton, Wolves and Palace’s