Crystal Palace have put a £50m move for Wolves striker Jørgen Strand Larsen on hold, despite having a verbal agreement in principle. The deal, worth £45m plus £5m in add-ons, would have been a club record, but Palace failed to submit a formal written offer on Thursday.
Instead, Palace are pushing ahead with a loan deal for Aston Villa's Evann Guessand, a long-standing target. The move includes an option to buy, after Guessand joined Villa from Nice for £30.5m last summer. Palace had previously been beaten to his signature.
Strand Larsen, 25, has also attracted interest from Leeds, who had a £40m bid rejected, and Nottingham Forest. Wolves, bottom of the Premier League, recognise his value will drop if they are relegated. He signed permanently for £23m last summer and extended his contract to 2030, but has struggled this season.
The stalled deal could affect Palace's stance on Jean-Philippe Mateta, who wants to leave. Forest have lodged a £35m bid for Mateta, but Palace will not let him go without a replacement. The two sides meet in the league on Sunday.
In other news, James Ward-Prowse has joined Burnley on loan from West Ham. The midfielder is one goal from direct free-kicks short of David Beckham's Premier League record of 18. Burnley manager Scott Parker said: 'Hopefully he can break that record with us because it would mean one has gone in!'
