Palace seek £55m-plus for Lacroix as talks with Chelsea begin

Sky Sports News understands Crystal Palace are seeking more than the £55m Tottenham paid for Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton to sanction Lacroix's sale; the 26-year-old joined the Eagles from Wolfsburg in 2024

>Chelsea are in talks with Crystal Palace over the signing of defender Maxence Lacroix.

>Sky Sports News understands Palace are seeking more than the £55m Tottenham paid for Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton to sanction Lacroix's sale.

>Palace and Chelsea enjoy good relations at the highest levels and they have done deals for players such as Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell.

>Chelsea want to sign a centre-back and ideally any new arrival would be physically imposing and bring Premier League experience.

>Chelsea have raised around £130m from sales in this window and more players are set to leave.

>In defence, players who could move on include Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto and Axel Disasi.

>Morgan Rogers arrived for a medical with Chelsea on Monday morning, which you can exclusively watch below, ahead of completing a British-record £117m move from Aston Villa.

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>All being well, Rogers is then expected to sign a six-year contract at Chelsea with the option of another year until 2033.

>Rogers returned from the USA on Sunday following England's third-place finish at the World Cup, via a bronze-final victory over France.

>Chelsea moved quickly to secure the deal ahead of Arsenal, who were unwilling to match the asking price despite Rogers being their top forward target.

>Rogers will become the most expensive British player of all time when he completes his move from Aston Villa, with the fee eclipsing the £116m fee paid by Manchester City for his England team-mate Elliot Anderson.

>Rogers is also set to become Chelsea's record signing, overtaking the £115m the Blues paid Brighton for Moises Caicedo in 2023.

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