The last-gasp Crystal Palace transfer hijack which could spoil Sunderland’s summer

As the first transfer reports started to trickle in on the morning of deadline day, it looked as though Sunderland’s long wait for a new winger was finally coming to an end, with a deal agreed to sign talented Belgium international Malick Fofana – but now that deal is in doubt, courtesy of Crystal Palace.

Fabrizio Romano has reported that although the 21-year-old has completed a medical at the Stadium of Light, Palace are attempting to launch a last-gasp hijack of the deal. Do they have a chance to spoil Sunderland’s summer plans, and what comes next if they do?

Could Crystal Palace sign Malick Fofana on deadline day?

Several stories, including one from The Athletic’s David Ornstein, suggested that Sunderland have agreed a fee worth over €30m for Lyon winger Fofana, with the player agreeing to a five-year contract with the Black Cats. All that remained was for a few last pieces of paperwork to be sorted out – or so it seemed.

Italian transfer journalist Romano now claims that Crystal Palace have sent a last-ditch bid to Lyon which includes a higher fee, hoping to outbid and outgun Sunderland in order to complete an unexpected gazumping.

The exact amount that Palace have offered is unknown, with Romano simply stating that it was higher than the €35m total package (including add-ons) offered by Sunderland. It’s not clear as to whether it would be sufficient for Lyon to pull out of a deal that has already been agreed. All Romano adds is that a decision will come “soon.”

It’s also not certain that the player himself, who has five caps for Belgium but was not a member of their 2026 World Cup squad, would be prepared to move to Palace at the last second having already agreed a contract with Sunderland.

In short, the chances that Crystal Palace succeed with their bid are hard to gauge, assuming that Romano’s reporting is accurate. But if they do sign Fofana instead of Sunderland, it would come as a major blow to a team whose need for extra creativity and goal threat up front has defined their summer.

What will Sunderland do if they miss out on Fofana?

Fofana was already Sunderland’s back-up plan – they had made a concerted effort to sign Jack Grealish, who is now expected to return to Everton instead, and had also made an offer for Marseille’s Igor Paixão which appears to have been rejected.

Should they fail to sign Fofana, then a second attempt to sign Paixão, a pacy Brazilian left winger who scored 12 goals in 42 games after moving to the south of France from Feyenoord last summer, seems to be the likely solution – but there would be no guarantee of success on that score.

Marseille are keen to hang on to Paixão despite the fact that they need to raise funds following their failure to qualify for European competition, and are expected to hold out for a substantial fee which would exceed that which Sunderland had agreed to pay for Fofana, likely around £40m.

Sport Witness reported that Sunderland’s highest bid to date came in at around £35m, which appears to have been deemed insufficient by the Ligue 1 side – but Sunderland, who struggled to consistently create chances last season despite their lofty league position, could be prepared to go higher in order to secure the signing of at least one winger, viewed as a necessity by the club’s transfer team.

Other targets include Roma’s Matías Soulé and Sporting’s Geny Catamo, but the latter deal would be difficult to pull off. Extensive negotiations over a deal for the Mozambique international took place earlier in the summer but failed to reach a positive conclusion, with Sporting keen to keep Catamo on the books. Sources in the Portuguese media suggest that the 25-year-old is expected to stay put.

In short, Sunderland’s failure to agree deals for Grealish, Catamo and Paixão mean that they have a lot riding on the outcome of the Fofana deal – and now Crystal Palace could put them in a very difficult position indeed, and force an overpay in order to secure a signing that could be the difference between another successful campaign and a case of second-season syndrome.