Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace side are reportedly interested in a move for Leicester City star Boubakary Soumare with the club aiming to fill the void left by Conor Gallagher after the Chelsea prodigy returned to his parent club – and the move could anger Arsenal, who held an interest in Soumare before he turned them down last season.
That’s according to the Daily Mail, who believe that Leicester would be keen to sell should Palace offer a fee of around £23m – which would see the Foxes recoup their fee paid last summer.
Leicester signed Soumare from Lille back in July 2021 after a series of superb performances saw Les Dogues win the French top-flight ahead of giants Paris Saint-Germain.
But it has not been simple for Soumare to break into the first-team; falling behind the pecking order to Wilfried Ndidi, James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
That has alerted Crystal Palace to his signature having lost Cheikhou Kouyate, James McCarthy and Gallagher over the last year, and he could excel under a Premier League midfield legend in Vieira.
And further reports have suggested Mikel Arteta could have signed the star last season after declaring his interest, although he has since move onto team-mate Tielemans.
It remains to be seen whether Soumare could have impressed heavily in the Gunners’ ranks, and we may never know with Tielemans likely to leave.
But if he has any influence similar to the performances Gallagher produced last season, Arsenal may well regret their snub.
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