For a brief period during the January transfer window, it appeared Yannick Carrasco, then at Dalian Professional in China, could end up at Crystal Palace.
A move to Selhurst Park was, at one point, deemed the only ‘serious’ option for the Belgian, who had been looking for a way out from the Chinese Super League since the summer.
However, the winger eventually returned to Atlético Madrid, one of his former clubs, on loan, and HLN in Belgium reported the move to Palace failed because Roy Hodgson ‘was not convinced’ about the whole operation.
Well, fast forward a week and a bit, and France Football have it rather differently, explaining the Premier League club got the ‘heavy artillery out’ to try and bring Carrasco in, with a ‘huge salary’ and a ‘four-year deal’.
Despite this big effort, the French magazine state it was ‘interference of intermediaries’ that led to the deal collapsing, which left him little choice but to accept the only escape route out of China left i.e. the loan to Atlético.
The forward will stay with Diego Simeone and co. until the end of the campaign, and has already made two appearances for his new old club, both coming from the bench so far.
