Aston Villa forward Evann Guessand could still join Crystal Palace on a permanent basis as they remain interested in him this summer.
The 25-year-old struggled after joining us from Nice last summer, as he registered just two goals and no assists in 21 appearances across all competitions.
In turn, he was sent out on loan to Palace in January where he fared better, contributing two goals and an assist in 14 outings, with an injury disrupting his early momentum at Selhurst Park.
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However, the expectation has been that he will return to Villa for pre-season and be given a fresh chance, as Palace had both an obligation and option to buy clause in the initial loan agreement, but neither were triggered and so the assumption was that perhaps they wouldn’t look to sign him outright.
According to Sky Sports though, they haven’t ruled out a move for Guessand just yet having passed up on the opportunity to sign him for £28.5m through the latter clause, and while it’s noted that he isn’t a priority for them currently, he is highly regarded at the club and so a return can’t be entirely dismissed at this stage.
The best case scenario for all concerned is arguably for the two clubs to reach a fresh agreement on a permanent transfer, perhaps at a slightly lower fee than previously agreed upon.
Palace would strengthen their attacking options with a player they already know and has shown he has the potential to be an important presence for them, Guessand would likely get more of a prominent role there than at Villa, and we would hopefully still manage to secure a decent fee which Unai Emery can reinvest into his squad on a player better suited to his ideas.
That said, having had more time to adapt to English football and if he’s motivated to try again, a fresh start at Villa could still work out as we’ve yet to see what Emery and our recruitment staff saw in him that warranted spending a big fee to secure his signature in the first place.
It remains to be seen if the pieces fall into place for a fresh move to Palace to happen, and although there is no suggestion of negotiations taking place or a new agreement being within reach, perhaps things will soon change if Palace wish to take the Ivorian international back.