Crystal Palace transfer news hands Leicester City a Bilal El Khannouss boost | OneFootball

Leicester could end up holding onto El Khannouss beyond the end of the summer window.

Leicester City are now looking more likely to hold onto Bilal El Khannouss as Crystal Palace have turned their attention to a new target.

The sale of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal was always going to set off a chain reaction that would involve a number of clubs. It immediately gave Palace the need to bring in more attacking options, and plenty of money to do it.

Before Eze's move was confirmed, it was reported that the Eagles had agreed a £32 million deal with Leicester for El Khannouss. The 21-year-old Moroccan has only been with the Foxes for just over a year, after making his move from KRC Genk to the King Power Stadium last summer.

Despite being part of a relegation side, his performances stood out to many and has been the subject of reported interest from Premier League clubs all throughout the summer.

Leicester City receive Bilal El Khannouss transfer boost from Crystal Palace

The drop to the Championship enabled clubs to trigger a relegation release clause worth £24.5 million in the attacking midfielder's contract. Even though Palace and Leicester have thrashed out a deal that is worth £7.5 million more than that clause, the South London side haven't pulled the trigger on the El Khannouss move because they also had other targets in mind.

One of them was a former Norwich City player, Club Brugge midfielder Christos Tzolis, but now Oliver Glasner's sights appear to be set on Villarreal winger Yeremy Pino. Fabrizio Romano has said that the two teams are in advanced talks over a deal that could cost up to €50 million (~ £43 million) for the Spanish international.

With this latest update, it seems less and less likely that the Eagles are going to swoop in for El Khannouss in the remaining days of the transfer window. That will have an effect on the business that Leicester do too.

Leicester were linked with Feyenoord winger Calvin Stengs, but Italian side Pisa are now leading the race for the former Netherlands international, as per Gianluca Di Marzio. Their interest in him was dependent on the Moroccan leaving before the 7pm deadline on Monday, 1st September, so Stengs' move to the East Midlands, even before Pisa took the lead, felt unlikely.

Leicester are stuck in bittersweet Bilal El Khannouss situation

You could argue that either this is a win/win situation for Marti Cifuentes and the Foxes, or that it's the opposite. On the one hand, they could either keep a true young talent on their books, or earn potentially upwards of £30 million that they could at least partially put towards reconstructing the squad for their new Spanish boss.

On the other hand, El Khannouss staying makes it much less likely that Leicester will be able to do much, if any, business before the deadline. Alternatively, they will lose one of their best players and won't have much time left to replace him.

There's a strong positive and negative to whichever way this El Khannouss saga turns. Leicester are clearly willing to let him leave. Just how effectively they'd be able to fill his gap in the squad would then become the major question if he were to be sold.