According to The Sun, Brighton are interested in signing CSKA Moscow striker Fedor Chalov, who was a summer target for Crystal Palace and is reportedly still on their radar.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the Eagles were keen on signing the Russia U21 international back in the summer, and saw a £23m bid for the forward’s services rejected.
The Evening Standard reported at the end of September that Palace were still interested in a deal for the 21-year-old, while Roy Hodgson also recently confirmed that the south Londoners will go back in for their summer targets in the January transfer window.
Chalov has netted six goals this season, while also recording five assists following a 2018/19 campaign which saw him score an impressive 17 goals while also setting up seven more.
Could be humiliating to lose out on Chalov to Brighton
You may be aware that Palace and Brighton are fierce rivals, a dislike that dates back to when Terry Venables and Alan Mullery were in charge of the two clubs and weren’t the best of friends, to say the least.
“I don’t think it was a rivalry between two clubs, I think it was a rivalry between two coaches. Terry Venables was the manager at Crystal Palace. I was the manager of Brighton. We were enemies when he played for Chelsea and I played for Fulham and Tottenham. He was always trying to compete with me and I was always trying to compete with him.”
The rivalry has continued into the modern era, with Palace getting one over on the Seagulls when beating them in the 2013 Championship playoff semi-final in their own stadium, and it’s safe to say that the pair aren’t too fond of each other.
In that respect, if the Eagles were to miss out on one of their transfer targets to, not only a fellow Premier League side, but an arch-rival in Brighton, it would be truly humiliating – especially seeing as Palace failed to wrap up a deal back in the summer when Chalov was a little-known forward.
The Russian now feels like more of a well-known commodity with Chelsea also expressing an interest in him, but if Hodgson was pipped to the post by a rival in Brighton, the south Londoners may not hear the end of it from the south coast side if Chalov performs well.
In other news, this Crystal Palace man was utterly superb against Southampton when others around him struggled…
