Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has given Arsenal and Liverpool hope of signing Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi before the transfer deadline.
Eze and Guehi both helped Crystal Palace win the Community Shield for the first time on Sunday with a penalty shootout victory over Liverpool.
The traditional Premier League curtain-raiser finished 2-2 after Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr cancelled out goals from Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong.
Dean Henderson was Palace’s hero in the shootout, as he was in May’s FA Cup final against Manchester City, saving strikes from Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott, while Mohamed Salah skied his effort.
Amid the scenes of jubilation at Wembley, Crystal Palace fans may have been wondering whether they had seen the last of two of their most important players, England internationals Eze and Guehi.
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Arsenal have expressed interest in signing Eze, who is available for around £65m, while Liverpool are expected to bid for Guehi.
Crystal Palace co-owner Parish faced the media following the Community Shield and was asked whether beating the Premier League champions showed how important it is to keep Eze and Guehi at the club.
Parish replied: ‘Yeah of course, but listen, players come and go in football clubs. I mean it’s a life cycle isn’t it?
‘Hopefully they’ll still be here, that’s what I’d like. But we’ll see.’
Asked about Crystal Palace’s own transfer business, which has frustrated Oliver Glasner, Parish added: ‘It’s difficult.
‘We have an outstanding 15 or 16 players, trying to get that level of quality in is hard. The prices – at the end of day we’re Crystal Palace.
‘The money at every football club is finite at some point. We will do what we can, try and help where we can. We all want to be better at football as we will try and do what we can.’
More to follow…
