Crystal Palace reach verbal agreement with Millwall's Romain Esse
After signing a new long-term deal with Millwall last summer, Romain Esse looks destined to become a Crystal Palace player as Fabrizio Romano reports that a verbal agreement has been reached between the club and the player. Palace have been onto the 19-year-old winger's trail since December when a potential move had been discussed internally at the Premier League side.
New Millwall manager Alex Neil confirmed the rumours surrounding Esse last week, as he said: "At the moment, there's interest from Crystal Palace, which has been well-documented. How far down the line that is, I'm not sure," he told reporters. "But I think people need to recognise how well we as a club have done by securing Romain on a new contract which took, by all accounts, a bit of convincing to stay because he wanted to play football".
Neil added: "He is now playing football, he's certainly been one of our best performers this season. We don't want to lose any of our best players but I think everybody understands the contract situation around Romain. If he does move, he'll move for significant money, which from the club's perspective will be brilliant business considering we could have lost him in the summer for free."
According to the 'BBC', Esse's new contract includes a release clause, which Palace would need to meet to bring the forward to Selhurst Park this month. Reports from England suggest a fee of around £14.5m. Esse counts five goals and one assist in 25 appearances for the Lions this season.
January 11, 2025