Gerrard missed as Crystal Palace finalize £15m deal, Tottenham move blocked

Aston Villa could now miss out on the signing of Lens star Cheick Doucoure with Crystal Palace, who are now believed to be in the making of a deal.

Most of the attention in Lens midfield is on Seko Fofana, who could land a big move to the Premier League himself.

But next to Fofana you can see Doucoure, who himself arouses great interest.

Doucoure has one goal and four assists in 31 Ligue 1 games this season.

This is now reported by The Sun that Crystal Palace will complete a £15m deal to sign Doucoure this summer.

Palace are believed to have tried to sign Ajax star Edson Alvarez but he would have cost a huge £35million fee.

Palace are therefore aiming for Doucoure for £20m less, with Patrick Vieira seemingly impressed with Doucoure.

If anyone knows what it takes to be a great midfielder, it’s Palace manager Vieira.

Doucoure, 22, has proven to be a fine box-to-box midfielder for Lens and it looks like his Premier League dream is finally about to come true.

Former Lens team-mate Zakaria Diallo has claimed Tottenham made a serious attempt to sign Doucoure last summer.

However, Lens stood in Doucoure’s way and blocked any move to Spurs, leaving the Malian ace “disappointed”.

Doucoure have continued to shine this season and it looks like Vieira – a former Arsenal man – will succeed where Tottenham failed.

This will also be a blow to Aston Villa.

The Daily Mail claim that Villa also switched for Doucoure last summer and is expected to make a new move this summer.

Steven Gerrard is desperate for new opportunities in midfield and Doucoure could have been a solution at Villa Park.

With Palace now appearing to be well advanced with their move to Doucoure, it seems Villa will have to look elsewhere this summer.

In other news, Jamie Redknapp says the 23-year-old has solved Arsenal’s ‘main problem’ for years