Sam Allardyce is a smart man. He saw that bringing Mamadou Sakho in on loan would be the perfect stop-gap move to solidify Crystal Palace’s leaky defence.
He also knows that it’s a tall order for the Eagles to keep hold of the France international beyond this season with a number of top European clubs said to be interested in him.
Palace now have their eyes on signing another centre-back and according to the Daily Mail, Celtic star Jozo Simunovic is a player on their radar.
Celtic signed the 22-year-old centre-back from Dinamo Zagreb in August 2015 and he enjoyed a great debut campaign. He came close to leaving Parkhead last summer when a £3.75m move to Torino collapsed on transfer deadline day.
Simunovic has made 29 appearances under Brendan Rodgers this season as Celtic close in on a historic domestic treble, attracting the interest from fellow Premier League sides West Brom and Newcastle (from next season).
Clubs in Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga are also interested in signing the centre-back in the summer who is valued at £9m.
