Nottingham Forest have made a £35m offer to Crystal Palace for Jean-Philippe Mateta in what would be a highly contentious transfer given the recent history between the two clubs.
The 28-year-old France international is understood to have been offered a salary of £3.47m a year after tax, which is significantly more than he is earning at Palace.
Mateta has expressed a desire to leave Palace, who face Forest on Sunday in the Premier League, although he has not yet handed in a transfer request.
There has also been interest in Mateta from Aston Villa who, as first revealed by Telegraph Sport, are to sign Tammy Abraham for about £18.1m from Besiktas instead, and AC Milan, who had an offer rejected last week.
Villa were prepared to allow Evann Guessand to go to Selhurst Park as part of the Mateta deal and the Ivory Coast international may yet be central to where the Palace forward ends up. Palace tried to sign Guessand last summer, before he agreed to join Villa for £22m from Nice, and are interested once more.
There is also interest in Guessand from Real Sociedad and Bayer Leverkusen. It appears almost certain he will leave Villa before the transfer window closes on February 2.
Palace are also interested in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ striker Jorgen Strand Larsen and would not sanction the sale of Mateta without a replacement being signed. They may also demand more than £35m but that fee, which Forest are prepared to pay, is close to their valuation.
Palace have already sold captain Marc Guéhi, who was in the final six months of his contract, to Manchester City during this window for £20m and would be reluctant to lose another one of their big players.
It would certainly be a surprise if Palace sanctioned a move for Mateta to join Forest, given they are only three points below them in the Premier League table, in 17th place, and could still draw them into the relegation battle.