Palace Pain as Star Edges Closer to Italy Move
Fan Favourite Mateta Set for Milan After Progression in Talks
Crystal Palace have gone from having by far the best season in the club's history to arguably the worst month ever experienced at a football club if excluding bankruptcy.
This January, they have seen their star defender and captain Marc Guehi jump ship to Manchester City, were slapped with the news that FA Cup-winning manager Oliver Glasner would be leaving at the end of the season, and have seen a raft of other star players linked with moves away.
🚨🚨 Milan have found an agreement with Crystal Palace for the signing of Mateta for €30M during the night.
— Milan Eye (@MilanEye) January 30, 2026
Milan are working on finalizing the deal already in January. It all depends on Palace’s ability to sign Strand-Larsen from Wolverhampton
[@lucabianchin7] pic.twitter.com/CHk7NMBvXX
The latest in a succession of transfer links concerns star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who looks set for a move to AC Milan.
End of an Era
After coming under heavy criticism at the start of his Eagles career, Mateta has truly blossomed in the last two and a half seasons in London. Netting 46 goals across all competitions since the start of 2023/24, he played a huge part in Palace’s FA Cup triumph and ever-improving league performances.
His high work rate, bursts of pace, physical build and trademark “BOOM” celebration have seen him become a cult hero at Selhurst Park, and for good reason - he sits fifth in the club’s all-time top goalscorer rankings.
This season, though, he has frustrated Crystal Palace fans with uncharacteristically loose finishing and a drop in the level he has maintained for so long.
With Palace undergoing something of a mass exodus in recent weeks, and Mateta’s market value capable of bringing the club a significant windfall, it is only right that the club looked to shift the striker as they look to start a rebuild.
As such, Mateta has been in various talks across the first month of the year, and after a period of uncertainty, seems to have settled on his next destination in AC Milan. The Italian side sits second in Serie A but require depth up front, with former West Ham flop Niclas Fullkrug their only recognised centre-forward.
Overnight, the two clubs managed to agree on terms, with Milan willing to splash €30 million on the 28-year-old in a bid to boost their title aspirations, while Crystal Palace have already settled on a replacement in Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen, who agreed to a £45 million deal to join the London club.
Crystal Palace spending near £80M on Brennan Johnson & Strand Larsen to replace Eze & Mateta might actually be worse than the Bale money incident for Spurs https://t.co/AVGu3wqSs5 pic.twitter.com/Bpiika7Dmp
— Adam (@AdamFulwell_) January 29, 2026
It represents the end of a golden era for Crystal Palace - having lost Ebere Eze, Michael Olise, Wilfried Zaha and now Mateta, the Eagles are without any certified star power for the first time in years, and the lack of such players could seriously dent both their league ambitions and Conference League hopes.
With Brennan Johnson also brought in from Tottenham, Palace have made wholesale changes up top, which we view as an exceptionally risky move. There is no guarantee that either out-of-form forward will start firing at their new club, but with Mateta pushing for a move since last summer, it was a deal they were forced into making.
Thomas Davies-Crisp 
Jake Brown 