March 14 2025

Mateta kicks the corner flag...again

Crystal Palace could face an unwelcome transfer battle as Manchester United show interest in Jean-Philippe Mateta, but with his contract secured until 2027, the Eagles hold a strong negotiating position writes Ben Griffiths.

As another intriguing domestic football calendar edges towards a close, we already know a number of the domestic winners and losers for the 2024/25 Premier League campaign and Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner will continue to look up the league for the coming campaign in the hopes of building on the progress he feels he has already made since his arrival at Selhurst Park.

What kind of business the club does over the summer months will remain open for debate, but the speculation rumour mill will undoubtedly have us linked with a plethora of potential talents, but what Eagles fans will certainly be hoping to avoid are key outbound links with clubs above us looking to cherry pick some of the top talent that Glasner will want to continue building around.

So recent press reports linking struggling Manchester United with having a strong interest in Jean Philippe Mateta will be welcomed by absolutely nobody and for those fans who like a flutter on soccer betting, they will hope that his odds of moving on remain incredibly low in the coming months.

As fans will know, it has already been reported that the club did option the extension we held on his existing deal earlier in the season to keep him at the club until 2027, but as part of that they also acknowledged that he was now due fresh terms given his performances. It is likely our discussions would include updated terms and an updated contract length, but there has been no confirmation of that so far.

In any event, if there is interest the 2027 date gives us a good negotiating position should any club ultimately come in for him.

As we look to strengthen further though, 27 year old Mateta is one of those players that would be on the radars of other clubs as he has had another good 2024/25 campaign for us. In 31 starts across all competitions (two substitute showings), he has returned 15 goals with a further three assists and his stock was already high owing to his Olympic performances over the summer for France.

Any transfer would come at a cost for interested clubs, and if Sir Jim Ratcliffe's recent interviews are anything to go by, you would have to question if the Old Trafford outfit could even afford him right now - irrespective of how he would obviously improve manager Ruben Amorim's first team options and their current goal return. A club largely in turmoil could also mean that Mateta would have absolutely no interest in joining them either, and with him being happy here, that too would play in our favour.

Fans should certainly not worry about his future at this point, but we will all be watching to see whether he becomes a more regular mention on the rumour mill as the summer nears and the transfer window gets closer to opening.

But like every transfer window, the club will deal with the hand it is given and fans trust decisions will be taken with our best interests in mind.