Fabrizio Romano: Crystal Palace deal 'verbally agreed' with 22-year-old in London to complete Eagles transfer

Crystal Palace target Christantus Uche has reportedly arrived in London ahead of a proposed move to Selhurst Park from La Liga side Getafe.

The 22-year-old from Nigeria joined Getafe last summer and signed a four-year deal with the club who are based in the outskirts of the Spanish capital of Madrid. He has scored five goals and provided eight assists for the club in 41 appearances.

He has made three appearances in La Liga this season and opened the campaign with a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo earlier this month. Providing an update on the deal with Palace, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano said in the early hours of Monday morning: “Christantus Uche, in London to sign at Crystal Palace today as deal is now verbally agreed. Getafe expect all formal steps to be respected on Monday to sell Uche.”

He started his career at fifth tier Spanish side Moralo Club Polideportivo before joining Ceuta in 2023. They were in the Spanish third tier at the time but have since been promoted to the second division.

Palace need to bolster their attacking options after selling Eberechi Eze to Premier League rivals Arsenal. The England international made his debut for the Gunners in their 1-0 loss at Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere on deadline day, Palace will be keen to keep hold of defender Marc Guehi after receiving a second bid from Premier League champions Liverpool. The Reds have bid £35m plus £5m in add-ons. The offer also includes a 10 per cent sell-on clause.

Eagles boss Oliver Glasner does not want to lose Guehi as he does not feel an adequate replacement is available before the 7pm transfer deadline. One potential replacement is Man City man Manuel Akanji but Tottenham are interested too.

Crystal Palace in good position after unbeaten start

Palace won 3-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday night to get their first win of the Premier League season and continue their unbeaten start. They beat Liverpool in the Community Shield clash at Wembley and drew with Chelsea and Nottingham Forest in their opening games.

"It was a great night," Glasner reflected after the win over Villa.

"A great game and a great performance. So all the credit to the players and how they dealt with this situation, a sixth game within three weeks straight away at the beginning of the season.

"To then show such a performance makes me proud, so it's a really big credit to everyone.

"The game was how we expected, we were against a good team. "I think they started well, then we got it under control, got a very nice penalty, with some good build-up play.

"Then, honestly, we had to survive for 15, 20 minutes after half-time. Villa made pressure, but this is when you play at Villa Park, there will always be 15 or 20 minutes where you have to suffer, and there we defended very well.

"We had Dean Henderson in two situations who helped us, and after the second goal, we got the confidence back, and we played fantastic. So really big credit to the players."