In the final days of the Premier League summer transfer window, we covered claims from Russia that Crystal Palace were interested in CSKA Moscow’s Fedor Chalov and the Eagles were willing to offer €25m for the striker.
The 21-year-old’s agent Sandor Varga earlier admitted CKSA received an important offer from the Premier League side, but they had no plans to let him leave. It was also suggested the Russian side needed €30m to sanction their star’s sale.
Last year, Javier Ribalta left Manchester United as their chief scout and joined Zenit St. Petersburg as their director of football, so now knows more about Russian football.
His side will face Benfica in the Champions League tie later today, while their rivals, CSKA Moscow face Espanyol in the Europa League on Thursday.
Ribalta spoke to AS about Crystal Palace’s failed efforts to sign Chalov, when stressing the importance of the project at CSKA.
“This shows that they want to do something important, that they have a long-term project. Crystal Palace also came for Chalov and they rejected it,” he said.
Two days ago, Varga once again stressed he will not rule out Chalov moving to Selhurst Park in the future and also insisted Roy Hodgson likes his client.