Crystal Palace to make England starlet first January transfer in £14.5m swoop
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Crystal Palace will make England Under-20 star Romain Esse from Millwall their first January signing. The Lions academy graduate, 19, has a slew of Premier League admirers after emerging as one of the Championship's most exciting prospects over the past 12 months.
Palace sporting director Dougie Freedman has been a regular at The Den this season and is a big fan of the attacking midfielder. And the Eagles have moved swiftly to beat the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton and Newcastle to a deal this month, with an agreement all but in place.
Millwall will bank a club-record £14.5million fee from the move. The deal also includes a sell-on clause which will see the Lions profit from any future switch Esse makes if he impresses for their south London rivals. Esse, who has become a regular at U20 level for England, has made 23 appearances in the Championship this term, racking up four goals and one assist.
Despite previous speculation, the talented teenager will not be returning to The Den on loan for the remainder of the season as things stand with Palace keen to integrate him into their first-team squad. New Lions boss Alex Neil alluded to the fact that Palace were in the driving seat to sign Esse earlier this week, saying: “There is interest from Crystal Palace. It has been well-documented. How far down the line that is, I’m not too quite sure.
“But I think people need to recognise how well we as a club have done by securing Romain on a new contract, which took, by all accounts, a lot of convincing to stay – because he wanted to play football. He is now playing football and has certainly been one of our best performers this season.
