Christian Benteke was signed for a club-record £30m from Liverpool in the summer and his eight goals thus far is a decent return and leads the Eagles but the club do still struggle to find the back of the net.
Crystal Palace are eager to bring in another striker to share the load on Benteke’s shoulders and Standard Liege’s Ishak Belfodil is someone who Sam Allardyce is reportedly targeting.
The Liverpool Echo claimed that Belfodil was close to a move to Everton after a deal worth £10.5m was agreed with the Belgian club, but the deal was being delayed by ongoing negotiations between the Toffees and the player’s representatives.
Belgian news outlet La Derniere say the Toffees are growing tired of the drawn out talks and are ready to end their pursuit if progress is not made in the near future.
If Everton pull out of the deal, then Crystal Palace could make a late move for the 25-year-old striker, but they face competition from Premier League rivals West Brom, Sunderland and West Ham, along with Celta Vigo, Pescara, Olympiacos, Spartak Moscow and Al-Aïn.
Belfodil has bounced around European football over the last five or six years, failing to make his mark at Lyon or Parma before joining Inter Milan
Having failed to impress with Inter, he joined fellow Italian side Livorno on loan but failed to score in 17 appearances before returning to Parma but, again, he flopped and was released in 2015.
He later moved to the UAE with Baniyas and joined Standard Liege on a free transfer in September 2016 where he’s found form, scoring 10 goals in 21 games so far this season.
Loic Remy’s return to fitness has been a boost for Palace but they need to find another forward to bring in.
