ARSENAL has reportedly lost to Crystal Palace in the transfer hunt for Lens star Cheick Doucoure.
The 22-year-old was in fine form in the French midfield last season.
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He provided four assists and one goal in his 34 Ligue 1 appearances, sparking Premier League interest.
Now The Guardian is claiming it is Palace winning the race to sign him after agreeing an initial fee of £18million with Lens.
Doucoure is now said to agree to a five-year contract with Selhurst Park, after agreeing to personal terms.
The Eagles have been trying to secure the transfer for several months and an initial offer of £14million was rejected last week.
However, they have returned with an improved bid that could potentially be worth more than £22 million depending on performance-related add-ons.
The move will be a bitter blow to Arsenal, who launched a belated move earlier this month, but a big boost for Palace boss Patrick Vieira.
He has lost Conor Gallagher from his midfield after the England international returned to Chelsea after his season-long loan spell.
Cheikhou Kouyate’s future is also up in the air after he declined to agree to a contract extension, which expires this month, with clubs in Turkey fond of the 32-year-old.
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Captain Luka Milivojevic will also be a free agent, although James McArthur has signed an extension.
Vieira, who spent nine years at Arsenal, is looking to build on his impressive first season as manager at Selhurst Park with another statute.
He has known Doucoure for several years since he was in charge of Nice.
And Vieira believes the player would have no trouble adapting to the Premier League.
The star left Real Bamako in his home country in 2018 to join Lens’ academy.
He invaded their first team during the promotion-winning 2019/20 campaign.
And Doucoure has continued to shine in Ligue 1 for the past two seasons.