Crystal Palace, Leicester And Southampton ‘Already Active’ In Striker Chase | OneFootball

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Crystal Palace, Southampton and Leicester City are ‘already active’ in the pursuit of an attacker that Fiorentina have now joined the hunt for.

Fiorentina want to sign another striker to play him up front with Moise Kean next term and they have been looking at options, including veteran hitman Edin Dzeko.

Now they are showing interest in Panathinaikos striker Fotis Ioannidis, who joined the Greek club in 2020 and since then has featured in 181 games for them, appearing in European competition as well.

Ioannidis though has caught the attention of three English clubs in the form of Crystal Palace, Southampton and Leicester City, and according to Italian outlet Calciomercato.com, they are ‘already active’ in the race to sign him.

Southampton and Leicester both suffered relegation to the Championship last season and they want to add a goalscorer who will fire them back to the Premier League; Paul Onuachu is poised to exit Saints for Turkey.

Crystal Palace, on the other hand, have qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup, but their participation is still in doubt due to their minority owner, John Textor, having a share in Lyon, who are also playing in the same competition.

However, they do want to add a forward who will give them depth and quality and they think the Greek striker is the ideal candidate, suiting Oliver Glasner’s side.

Panathinaikos want €20m for Ioannidis and that is a sum Fiorentina consider to be too high.

The Serie A outfit are prepared to go up to as high as €12m for the Greek striker.

Interest from England is said to be complicating Fiorentina’s bid to sign Ioannidis from Panathinaikos.

After relegation Southampton and Leicester might also find his Ioannidis’ valuation high, but could try to strike a deal with the Greek giants by finding a different solution.

It is unclear whether Ioannidis, who has three more years left on his contract, is willing to prioritising a move to England in the summer.

Palace might have the upper hand in the race, as the lure of the Premier League could prove to be a bargaining chip in convincing the player on the move.