Rumour Mongering: Crystal Palace Bid £18M for Divock Origi

A Spanish report claims Origi is heading to Palace for £18M, and there just might be something to it.

For much of the past week, the assumption has been that Danny Ings would end up at Crystal Palace and the only real question was how much Liverpool could get out of the London club for the oft-injured striker as the transfer window wound down.

Over the past 24 hours, though, Southampton have come back into the picture and there appears a real chance Ings could end up there instead. And if that happens, what’s Palace meant to do? Why sign a different spare-part Liverpool striker, of course.

At least according to Valencia’s El Desmarque, who say that Palace have lodged an £18M bid for Origi today. On the surface it seems a bit of a stretch, a regional Spanish outlet being the one to break news on a major pending Premier League transfer.

It might just have some truth to it, though, given Valencia have been rumoured to have Origi as one of their top targets for much of the summer, hoping to get him on loan for the season if Liverpool can’t find a permanent taker for the 23-year-old Belgian.

That would mean that Valencia—and the local press—would have a vested interest in Origi’s future as well as, in all likelihood, be in contact with the player’s representatives such that they might know if a deal elsewhere meant he was no longer an option.

In any case, with just about 24 hours to go in the transfer window for Premier League sides, we should at least know if Origi to Palace and Ings to Saints for around £40M combined are things that are, somehow, actually happening in fairly short order.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com