According to Turkish-Football, Crystal Palace were among the sides who were given accreditation to go and watch the Intercontinental derby game between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, where the Eagles were believed to be casting an eye over Ozan Tufan.
Turkish-Football also revealed that Everton hold an interest in the Turkey international too, but after watching his performance in the heavyweight Super Lig clash on Sunday, Roy Hodgson’s side have every right to feel sceptical over what they witnessed.
How did he do?
While the 24-year-old didn’t exactly endure a nightmare display, he didn’t perform a masterclass either.
Tufan lined up in a defensive-midfield role – an area in which he has made seven appearances this term, while also playing at right-back and right-midfield.
He played the entire game, picking up a yellow card while registering one dribble, one key pass and no shots.
Tufan also had just 33 touches of the ball, which was fewer than any of his Fenerbahce teammates.
Palace have reason to be sceptical
As aforesaid, while it wasn’t the worst performance of all time from the versatile player, it was surely enough to make Palace feel sceptical about bringing Tufan to Selhurst Park.
That point is made even more relevant by the fact that the Fenerbahce man has a €20m (£16.7m) release clause in his contract.
If the Eagles are going to have to shell out an amount of that nature, then one would like to think that they’d be completely sold on the potential purchase before parting with such a significant sum.
On the basis on his display against Galatasaray, the south Londoners surely can’t be completely convinced given the quiet nature of Tufan’s performance.
His versatility is attractive, as is his international experience – he scored at the 2016 European Championship.
However, the Eagles have every right to have left the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium feeling sceptical over what they saw.
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