Crystal Palace set huge asking prices in effort to fend off interest from Liverpool and Man City

Manchester City boosted their chances of retaining their Premier League crown by completing the signing of Jeremy Doku on Thursday. 

The Belgian joins City from French club Rennes in a deal worth around £55 million, and has signed a five-year deal at The Etihad.

Pep Guardiola’s side have enjoyed a perfect start to the new league season, beating both Burnley and Newcastle United, but it appears that they may miss out on one of their other transfer targets.

According to The Evening Standard, Crystal Palace have put huge price tags on both Eberechi Eze and Cheick Doucoure, who have emerged as targets for City and Liverpool respectively.

The report claims that the Eagles will demand as much as £70 million each for the duo, who both impressed at Selhurst Park last term, in an effort to deter interest.

Eze, 25, joined Palace from Championship club Queen’s Park Rangers back in 2020 and has since made 95 appearances for the Eagles across all competitions, scoring 15 goals and providing 11 assists.

Eze has attracted interest from Manchester City

City were in the market for a new attacker following the sale of Riyad Mahrez to Al-Ahli, but it remains to be seen whether or not the acquisition of Doku will impact their pursuit of Eze.

Doucoure, meanwhile, emerged as a target for the Reds after they missed out on both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, who both joined Chelsea.

Jurgen Klopp is keen to add a central midfielder to his squad, although Liverpool did complete a deal for Wataru Endo from Stuttgart last week.

Doucoure only joined Palace last summer, moving from French side Lens in a deal worth around £17 million, and made 35 appearances last season.

Palace are desperate to keep hold of the duo, though, and have therefore insisted that neither player will be sold for less than £70 million.

Last week, the London outfit were handed a huge boost when winger Michael Olise declined the opportunity to move to Chelsea, and instead opted to sign a new contract at the club.