Over the past few weeks, there was some growing optimism in France that Jean-Philippe Mateta, currently on loan at Crystal Palace, could end up in Saint-Etienne.
Their manager, Pascal Dupraz, confirmed he was in touch with the player ‘regularly’, but the deal wasn’t confirmed, which the Eagles used to their advantage in their FA Cup game against Millwall, as the Frenchman found the back of the net in the 2-1 win.
That makes it his second goal in three games, and Le Progrès in France are now reporting that Crystal Palace are thinking twice about letting Mateta go.
They state ‘this sudden rise in power is not really helping’ the Ligue 1 side in their endeavour, as ‘they wanted him to be loaned as soon as possible’.
In fact, ‘optimism was in order’ last week, but Palace have since been ‘amazed’ by Mateta’s performances, and ‘they are no longer in such a rush to part with him’.
Saint-Etienne will therefore ‘have to wait’, but as of Sunday evening, ‘the track was not abandoned’, maybe ‘just delayed’.
Either way, the Ligue 1 side still ‘want it to be fixed very quickly’, and ‘if possible as early as Monday’.
