Crystal Palace transfer twist emerges ft El Khannouss and Southampton star Tyler Dibling | OneFootball

Palace are close to an agreement with Leicester over a deal for the Moroccan.

Crystal Palace are close to agreeing a deal with Leicester City for attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss - but there's not a certainty that the transfer will actually be completed.

After just one-and-a-bit seasons with the Foxes, it appears unlikely that El Khannouss will remain a Leicester player beyond this summer transfer window.

A number of clubs have been linked with the 21-year-old since the end of last season. Leicester's relegation to the Championship activated a €26 million (~ £22.5 million) release clause in his deal, but they look set to earn more than that from their creative outlet.

Crystal Palace close to agreement on Bilal El Khannouss transfer

According to Sky Sports, Palace and City are on the verge of agreeing a £32 million deal for El Khannouss. The terms of the deal, like the payment structure, have been broadly agreed.

However, the Eagles are yet to go all in on the move as they consider other options, including Southampton's Tyler Dibling.

The teenager has already been the subject of offers from the Premier League this summer. Everton had two bids rejected for Dibling; Southampton asked for a £50 million package, plus a 25 per cent sell-on clause, which led to the Toffees walking away from the deal, as per David Ornstein.

Palace would face competition from fellow top-flight clubs like Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, who have also been recently linked with Dibling, and it would be a move that could cost nearly £20 million more than the one that they have thrashed out with Leicester for El Khannouss.

Club Brugge's Christos Tzolis is another player that the south London side are considering making a move for, as per The Athletic, which could impact whether they pursue this deal for El Khannouss.

In Marti Cifuentes' first competitive match in charge of the Foxes, the Moroccan picked up two assists to help his side to a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, but was dragged at half-time of their 2-1 defeat to Preston North End this past weekend.

Leicester are in a position where they will need to sell some more players in order to give their Spanish boss some cash to bring in players before Deadline Day on 1st September.

Leicester should want Crystal Palace to pull the trigger on Bilal El Khannouss deal

As much as it may bring about some self-inflicted pain, the money that Leicester would get from selling El Khannouss would be a big help for them.

It would hand them a very quick and sizeable profit on the £21 million that they reportedly paid KRC Genk to sign him from the Belgian club last summer, which would hugely help the club's Profit and Sustainability standings.

It's very unlikely that the £32 million deal that has been talked about would see all of the potential cash head to the King Power Stadium right away, but City should be able to reinvest a decent portion of it before the 7pm deadline on 1st September.

It may cause some short-term damage to the club's hopes of immediately bouncing back up to the Premier League. In the long-run, El Khannouss might not be this valuable again. If there is any time to want to cash in, it's probably now.