Crystal Palace to swoop for Celtic star in January raid
Published:
Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock is poised to look north of the border in his bid to guide the Eagles to safety this season.
Defeat to Manchester United at the weekend has left the Selhurst Park outfit above the relegation zone by a single goal and Warnock believes Celtic captain Scott Brown is the man to give his side a boost.
According to reports in The Scotsman, Warnock has had the 29-year-old watched on a number of occasions this season and is prepared to bid around £5m for the Bhoys midfielder.
Celtic will be reluctant to lose their skipper but Warnock hopes the fee and the chance for Brown to reunite with former team-mate Joe Ledley will be enough to convince both the club and the player to agree to the move.
Following the defeat to United, palace are now priced as a 23/20 shot to fall through the Premier League trap door and with Liverpool, Manchester City and high flying Southampton all to come before the turn of the year, the Eagles could be entrenched in relegation warfare by the time the transfer window opens.
Brown has played over 200 games for Celtic winning four league titles, but with many of the players disillusioned with life at Celtic Park since the appointment of Ronny Deila, Brown could be tempted to test himself in the Premier League while he is still the right side of 30.
Despite their current predicament, Palace are still odds on to avoid the drop at 8/13, but Warnock will be keen to see those odds drift and believes brown’s arrival would help in that regard.
Next up for palace, after the international break, is the visit of an underperforming Liverpool side.
However, Warnock’s men go into that tie as home underdogs, after losing four of their last five league outings, and are priced at 10/3 for the win.
The Reds are billed as 4/5 favourites for the tie, while the draw can be backed at 13/5.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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