There are reportedly “some concerns” within Crystal Palace over the future of Maxence Lacroix, who has been linked with Liverpool.
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The 25-year-old impressed during his time at Selhurst Park and has become an even more important player for the club following the departure of Marc Guehi to Manchester City in January.
The Daily Mail have reported that Lacroix has been linked with Liverpool, and it’s certainly easy to imagine the Frenchman becoming a strong signing to replace Ibrahima Konate, who is nearing the end of his contract with the Reds.
Lacroix received his first call-up to the France national team during the international break and manager Mick Brown has expressed his belief that Palace may be concerned about what effect this will have on the player’s future.
A former Premier League scout suggested to Football Insider that he has seen this happen with a number of players before, as his international team-mates could get an earful about playing in the Champions League.
Crystal Palace issue transfer warning to Maxence Lacroix
““Crystal Palace will have concerns about Maxence Lacroix,” Brown said.
“We talked about it with (Jean-Philippe) Mateta and I’ve seen it happen countless times. When these players get international recognition, suddenly everything changes.”
“Their agents are knocking on the door asking for a pay rise or are looking for interested clubs and seeing if they can capitalize on the talk surrounding them.
“They parted ways with France and everyone is talking about playing in the Champions League and things like that and that is having an impact.”
He added: “I don’t think there’s a big concern in that regard, but I think they will be concerned about it given everything that happened with Mateta.”
“I watched him a lot at Wolfsburg and since then he has moved to Palace and he has stepped up and performed well, especially now without Marc Gech.
“He plays a very important role in everything they do, so if there was a suggestion that he might leave, that would be an issue, but it’s someone to keep an eye on.”
Liverpool are certain to fight to keep Konate, but are also likely to keep an eye on players like Lacroix in case they lose a defensive key player on a free transfer.
