\n<\/p>\n
Chelsea have been warned that Crystal Palace will demand a sizeable fee for Maxence Lacroix after the Blues showed interest in the centre-back.<\/strong><\/p>\n Xabi Alonso is assessing defensive reinforcements as Chelsea prepare for his first season at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n Lacroix remains among the leading names under consideration, but Chelsea have not yet submitted a formal offer to Palace.<\/p>\n According to the Evening Standard, Palace are determined to receive a substantial fee because the France international still has three years remaining on his contract.<\/p>\n The Eagles are already exploring potential defensive additions, with Augsburg centre-back Chrislain Matsima emerging as a target.<\/p>\n However, Palace\u2019s interest in another defender does not mean they are prepared to accept a reduced offer for Lacroix.<\/p>\n Lacroix joined Palace from Wolfsburg in 2024 on a five-year contract and has since established himself as one of their most important defenders.<\/p>\n His pace, physical strength and ability to defend large spaces fit the profile Alonso wants for Chelsea\u2019s back line.<\/p>\n The 26-year-old also enhanced his reputation during France\u2019s World Cup campaign, adding international experience to his established Premier League record.<\/p>\n As Read Chelsea previously examined, Lacroix has been high on Chelsea\u2019s defensive shortlist because he could immediately compete for a starting position.<\/p>\n Chelsea may also need to replace Trevoh Chalobah, who is attracting interest from Como and Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n No fee has been agreed for Lacroix and negotiations are not yet advanced. Chelsea must decide whether to meet Palace\u2019s demands or move towards another centre-back target.<\/p>\n Palace\u2019s contract position ensures they can resist pressure, while Chelsea will want to avoid allowing another defensive pursuit to drag through pre-season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chelsea have been warned that Crystal Palace will demand a sizeable fee for Maxence Lacroix…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Palace hold strong Lacroix position<\/h2>\n