£15m player now left out of squad as manager confirms Crystal Palace move is advanced

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Crystal Palace are very close to completing their first signing of the winter transfer window.

After Crystal Palace saw a £15m bid rejected for Ben Doak at the start of the month, attention has since turned towards Romain Esse at Millwall.

The England U20 international has been a real livewire for the south Londoners so far this season, scoring four goals and providing one assist in 23 appearances to put Millwall 14th in the Championship.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
14	MillwallMillwall	25	7	9	9	24	23	1	30

However, Esse was left out of the squad entirely on Monday as Millwall recorded a 3-0 win over Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup, with Alex Neil making an interesting comment about Crystal Palace after the game.

Alex Neil admits Romain Esse move to Crystal Palace is progressing

After being asked where Esse was on Monday, the Millwall boss admitted he didn’t want to jeopardise the deal by running the risk of the 19-year-old suffering an injury at The Den.

The Evening Standard quote Neil as saying: “Crystal Palace have shown a lot of interest (so) I didn’t make him available for the game. That situation is progressing and I didn’t want to put it at risk at this stage.”

A fee of £14.5m has been agreed between Crystal Palace and Millwall for the teenager – who would have seen a £12m release clause come into play this summer.

Evidently, Dougie Freedman – Director of Football at Selhurst Park – has seen fit to pay Millwall a little extra in order to sign Esse now, as fierce competition may have arisen for his services this summer once that release clause became active.

Crystal Palace could have a Michael Olise replacement on their hands

Michael Olise is obviously a special talent – having already scored nine goals while assisting a further ten in just 24 appearances for Bayern Munich so far.

Therefore, it will take a lot for Esse to emulate what the France international did for Crystal Palace, but stylistically, he is a similar profile, one who likes to cut inside from the right into his stronger left foot.

Esse – who plays a bit like Bukayo Saka too – could therefore be an Olise replacement for Oliver Glasner, if the Austrian gives the south Londoner chances to impress in the second half of the season.