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Manchester United are set to rival England\u2019s elite for Maxence Lacroix despite Crystal Palace increasing the price of their defensive lynchpin, according to the latest report.<\/p>\n
Palace\u2019s Powerhouse<\/h5>\n
After arriving at Selhurst Park from Wolfsburg for \u00a318 million to be reunited with Oliver Glasner, Lacroix has been an integral part of the most successful period in Crystal Palace\u2019s history. The 26-year-old, who has primarily played as the central centre-back in Glasner\u2019s three-man defence, has helped propel the Eagles to three trophies in two years: the FA Cup, Community Shield, and the Europa Conference League.<\/p>\n
Palace\u2019s miserly defence has been integral to this success, achieving two clean sheets in three of these finals and 20 across all competitions last season. But the 6\u20194\u2033 powerhouse is not simply a defensive brute; he is capable of playing out from the back and even notched a goal and two assists in the 2025\/26 campaign.<\/p>\n
The decision by Didier Deschamps to select Lacroix for France\u2018s World Cup squad, ahead of options like Benjamin Pavard, Castello Lukeba, or even Manchester United starlet Leny Yoro, underlines how highly rated he is \u2013 as does his list of suitors.<\/p>\n
Eyed by England\u2019s Elite<\/h5>\n
Caught Offside<\/em> reveals Chelsea are frontrunners for Lacroix, who they have made their \u201ctop target\u201d. The Blues are keen to strengthen Xabi Alonso\u2019s backline ahead of a tactical switch to a 3-4-2-1 \u2013 the system in which he has thrived at Selhurst Park.<\/p>\n The Frenchman is open to the switch from south to west London, yet Chelsea have been unable to make headway in negotiations with Crystal Palace. Initially, the Eagles were demanding around \u00a347 million, but this has now risen closer to \u00a360 million.<\/p>\n Palace are understood to be hoping a \u201cbidding war\u201d breaks out for Lacroix, given Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United are all monitoring the situation. A report relayed by The Peoples Person<\/em> claimed Real Madrid were an admirer as well.<\/p>\n A well-placed source claims: \u201cChelsea have made Lacroix their priority and efforts are still ongoing to get a deal done. Palace won\u2019t make it easy, though, and their initial asking price of \u20ac55m (\u00a347m) has risen now quite substantially.<\/p>\n \u201cPalace are aware of other clubs circling. Arsenal have been monitoring his situation and they\u2019re now stepping up their interest in a new centre-back following William Saliba\u2019s injury. Look out for Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City as well.\u201d<\/p>\n While a centre-back would not seem like a priority for Manchester United, given the plethora of options at Michael Carrick\u2019s disposal, the continued absence of Matthijs de Ligt as well as injury concerns over Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez have led INEOS to consider targets.<\/p>\n Lacroix fits the mould the hierarchy have made their priority since Sir Jim Ratcliffe\u2019s takeover. He is a Premier League-proven operator, just about to enter his prime, who would consider the chance to play at Old Trafford a major attraction. Whether the Red Devils are willing to stump up to \u00a360 million to hijack Chelsea\u2019s move remains to be seen, however.<\/p>\n The Peoples Person has been one of the world\u2019s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Manchester United are set to rival England\u2019s elite for Maxence Lacroix despite Crystal Palace…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18500","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\/18500","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=18500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Final Thoughts<\/h5>\n
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