Crystal Palace are preparing to enter the race for Queens Park Ranger striker Charlie Austin, according to the Guardian this evening.
The Eagles are likely to submit an offer of £6m for the player who is looking to return to the Premier League after QPR’s relegation to the Championship, with Alan Pardew preparing to offer two players in addition to the seven digit figure in a cash-plus-player deal.
In the report it is suggested that the players that are most likely to be offered to QPR in the exchange deals are fringe players Fraizer Campbell, Adrian Mariappa, Barry Bannan or Adlène Guedioura. None of those players featured heavily in the Premier League for Crystal Palace last season with defender Mariappa featuring the most with 12 appearances.
After scoring 18 goals in the league last season, a number of clubs have dipped their toes in the water by showing their interest in acquiring Austin’s services with those sides including two of Alan Pardew’s former teams in Newcastle United and West Ham United as well as Aston Villa. Recently promoted Leicester City have reportedly had a £12 million bid rejected by the Championship side.
QPR are looking for a bid upwards of £15m with Palace believing that their cash-plus-player deal would be sufficient enough with it being reported that the Hoops will be interested in taking striker Campbell or Mariappa, but only if the Eagles increase the amount of money that they are preparing to shell out.
