![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-talk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Maxence-Lacroix-997x600.jpg\")
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Chelsea have reached an agreement for the permanent transfer of Crystal Palace centre-back Maxence Lacroix to Stamford Bridge this summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the BlueCo takeover of Chelsea, one position that has come under heavy scrutiny at the club is the backline. In the 2023-24 season under Mauricio Pochettino, they conceded a sky-high 74 goals in all competitions and 63 in 38 Premier League games, the most the club have ever conceded in a 38-game league season.<\/p>\n Last season was no exception; despite high hopes following their Club World Cup win, Chelsea endured a disappointing campaign where they conceded 52 goals in the Premier League.<\/p>\n More than the goals, the lack of experience and quality was evident in their penchant for conceding avoidable goals and giving away chances to opponents through mistakes.<\/p>\n As a result, Chelsea are now showing a commitment to strengthening their backline and have already signed Italian fullback Marco Palestra from Atalanta.<\/p>\n The Blues have been heavily linked with Palace\u2019s Lacroix, with Football Talk citing TEAMtalk<\/em> reporting that Chelsea are making significant progress in signing the Frenchman.<\/p>\n It appears a deal has now been agreed, as Fabrizio Romano<\/em> reports that Chelsea have reached an agreement to sign Lacroix from Palace this summer.<\/p>\n After several negotiations that began during the World Cup campaign, the transfer expert adds that the Eagles have accepted Chelsea\u2019s \u00a352m fee.<\/p>\n The France international is set to undergo his medicals before putting pen to paper on a long contract that runs until 2032, Romano adds.<\/p>\n Standing at 6ft 4in, Lacroix possesses the physical attributes to thrive in the Premier League. His pace, strength and ability in one-on-one situations allow him to defend effectively whether his side employs a high defensive line or sits deeper.<\/p>\n Since arriving from VfL Wolfsburg in 2024, the 26-year-old has ranked among the quickest centre-backs in the Premier League. That recovery pace has played a major role in establishing him as one of the most dependable defenders in one-versus-one duels.<\/p>\n According to stats from Opta, he was the only centre-back in the league to win 50+ tackles (60), 200+ duels won (204) and 250+ clearances (252).<\/p>\n His addition would hand Xabi Alonso a reliable centre-back option that is capable of playing efficiently in a back three or back four next season.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chelsea have reached an agreement for the permanent transfer of Crystal Palace centre-back Maxence Lacroix…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21035","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\/21035","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=21035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Lacroix to Chelsea<\/h2>\n
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