{"id":19733,"date":"2026-07-21T19:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19733"},"modified":"2026-07-21T19:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T19:45:35","slug":"chelsea-transfer-news-maxence-lacroix-close-to-move-after-new-york-hotel-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19733","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea transfer news: Maxence Lacroix close to move after New York hotel meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"


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21 Jul 2026 10:04 BST |<\/span>
\n 4 min read <\/p>\n

\n \"Xabi<\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\u00a9 IMAGO <\/figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n \"Cameron <\/figure>\n
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Cameron Smith
\n |<\/span>
\n Digital Content Producer<\/span>\n <\/div>\n

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Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Chelsea are pushing to finalise a summer deal for France defender Maxence Lacroix, who is valued at \u20ac70 million (\u00a360m) by Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n

Article continues under the video<\/center> <\/p>\n

The 26-year-old has been earmarked as Chelsea\u2019s priority centre-back target ahead of the new campaign and they are eager to bring him to Stamford Bridge this summer as they prepare for Xabi Alonso\u2019s debut season in charge.<\/p>\n

Lacroix has enjoyed an excellent two-year stint at Crystal Palace, but he is open to leaving Selhurst Park following the departure of Oliver Glasner, and Chelsea have emerged as the frontrunners to sign him, despite reported competition from fellow Premier League giants Arsenal.<\/p>\n

The Blues are expected to sanction the permanent sales of Trevoh Chalobah, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile and potentially Wesley Fofana before the end of the summer window, and Lacroix is their preferred centre-back signing, ahead of fellow targets Jacobo Ramon and John Stones.<\/p>\n

Chelsea have been in discussions over a move for the 26-year-old for several weeks and a formal meeting between co-owner Behdad Eghbali and Palace chairman Steve Parish took place at a hotel in New York following the World Cup final on Sunday, as per a report from The Daily Mail<\/b>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s claimed that Chelsea offered a fee of roughly \u20ac65m during the meeting, but Palace are holding out for \u20ac70m and the early indications suggest that an agreement is likely to be reached before the start of the 2026-27 campaign.<\/p>\n

Chelsea are reportedly \u201cdetermined\u201d to sign Lacroix this summer, while the France star, who made three appearances at the World Cup, is understood to be open to a Stamford Bridge switch.<\/p>\n

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\"Maxence<\/source><\/source><\/picture>
\u00a9 IMAGO – Maxence Lacroix, Crystal Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Who else do Chelsea want to sign this summer?<\/h2>\n

In addition to Lacroix, Chelsea are also in advanced talks to sign Rayo Vallecano left-back Pep Chavarria, although a deal is at risk of collapsing due to a gap in valuation.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard has been identified as a top target by Alonso, who is driving Chelsea\u2019s pursuit of his compatriot, and it was originally believed that a fee worth less than \u20ac30m would be enough to finalise a transfer.<\/p>\n

However, Rayo Vallecano insist that a sale won\u2019t be accepted unless Chavarria\u2019s \u20ac50m release clause is triggered and Chelsea are currently unwilling to match that figure. If a deal for Chavarria falls through, Chelsea have been tipped to pursue a deal to bring Lewis Hall back to the club.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Blues have finalised a deal with Aston Villa for Morgan Rogers, with the England attacker set to be formally unveiled as the club\u2019s most expensive signing in history shortly.<\/p>\n

Related stories:<\/h2>\n

Transfer Rumours: Chelsea hijack attempt as final Bruno Guimaraes decision made<\/b><\/p>\n

Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Chelsea next signing, Rashford truth, Rodri wants Real Madrid<\/b><\/p>\n

Premier League summer transfers 2026: All the Done Deals<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 Jul 2026 10:04 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith | Digital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19733","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\/19733","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=19733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}