Leeds United join QPR and Sunderland in race for Premier League star after 'brilliant' pre-season goal
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The Crystal Palace winger hit the back of the net in the dying moments of a friendly against Charlton Athletic.
QPR, Leeds United and Sunderland transfer target Jesurun Rak-Sakyi was on target for Crystal Palace in a pre-season friendly against League One outfit Charlton Athletic on Friday afternoon.
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The 21-year-old has found himself at the centre of a transfer storm this summer. The Eagles are reportedly willing to cash in on the youth academy graduate, who played a fringe role in the squad last season having enjoyed an impressive 2022/23 loan spell with the Addicks.
A host of Championship clubs are said to be interested in a deal for the forward. QPR are in the market for a winger having seen Chris Willock leave as a free agent before signing for Cardiff City while Sunderland, Hull City and Sheffield United had all been named as potential suitors. On Friday, The Daily Mail even added that Leeds United had joined the race.
There is Premier League interest in the player too from newly promoted Southampton. Crystal Palace have already rejected a loan-to-buy offer from the south coast club with the Daily Mail suggesting the Eagles aren't willing to strengthen a top flight rival, even though the player himself is keen on a switch to St Mary's.
That's both a boost and a blow for QPR and second tier rivals, who may have had interest piqued even further on Friday after Rak-Sakyi netted the only Crystal Palace goal in a 1-1 draw against Charlton Athletic. The winger salvaged something from the game in the dying moments in a goal that the club described as 'brilliant' in a match report.
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The fixture took place in over 30 degrees heat at the Palace Academy with recent signings Chadi Riad and Daichi Kamada starting for the Premier League side.
Chuks Aneke opened the scoring for Charlton Athletic after just 34 minutes as a match that lacked any real bite played out in the heat. Describing the Rak-Sakyi goal, the match report read: "Then, in the 90th minute, Rak-Sakyi’s moment of magic – and against the side who he starred for on loan two seasons ago, no less.
"A quick ball forwards from David Ozoh was laid off by Kamada into the winger’s path and, stepping inside two Charlton defenders, he feinted to shoot – sitting one marker down – before advancing into the box and rolling a precise right-footed effort across goal and into the bottom corner."