{"id":922475,"date":"2026-07-25T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/transfer-crystal-palace-target-another-super-eagles-star\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T21:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:15:08","slug":"transfer-crystal-palace-target-another-super-eagles-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/transfer-crystal-palace-target-another-super-eagles-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Transfer: Crystal Palace target another Super Eagles star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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Paul Onuachu, Anthony Nwakaeme and Chibuike Nwaiwu at Trabzonspor. Photo Credit: IMAGO<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Premier League side Crystal Palace have entered the race to sign Chibuike Nwaiwu, setting up a transfer battle with fellow\u00a0English\u00a0club Fulham for the\u00a0signature of the Super Eagles defender, Soccernet.ng<\/u><\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fulham have been working on a deal for the 23-year-old throughout the summer and have already seen two bids rejected by Turkish club Trabzonspor.<\/p>\n

Trabzonspor are reportedly holding out for between\u00a0\u20ac30 million and\u00a0\u20ac35 million<\/u><\/a>, a fee that would make Nwaiwu the most expensive outgoing transfer in Turkish football history.<\/p>\n

Despite the high asking price, Fulham stepped up their pursuit following the departure of Moroccan defender Issa Diop to Ipswich Town.\u00a0The\u00a0<\/u>Cottagers h<\/u>ave agreed personal terms with Nwaiwu<\/u><\/a>\u00a0and were\u00a0only working on reaching an agreement with Trabzonspor for a deal.<\/p>\n

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Nigeria Super Eagles and Trabzonspor defender Chibuike Nwaiwu. Copyright: GEPAxpictures\/xMaticxKlansekxIMAGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However,\u00a0according to Foot-Africa<\/u><\/a>, Crystal Palace have now made a late move to hijack the deal. The Eagles are hoping to beat\u00a0their Premier League rivals\u00a0to the defender’s signature,\u00a0which would still see\u00a0Nwaiwu\u00a0end up in London, although this time in the south of the capital\u00a0city.<\/p>\n

Soccer Crystal Palace or Fulham: Where could Nwaiwu end up?<\/h2>\n

Nwaiwu’s rise over the past year has been remarkable. Just last\u00a0year, he was playing in the Austrian Bundesliga with Wolfsberger,\u00a0where he helped\u00a0the club win the Austrian Cup during the 2024-25 season\u00a0\u2013 marking their\u00a0first major domestic trophy in the club’s history.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old\u00a0then joined Trabzonspor during the winter transfer window earlier this year and quickly established himself as one of the club’s key defenders. He made several appearances in all competitions and played the full 90 minutes as Trabzonspor defeated Konyaspor 2-1 to lift the Turkish Cup.<\/p>\n

The young defender also went on to make his debut for the Super Eagles in March and was a mainstay in the heart of the defence as Eric Chelle\u2019s men went on to win the 2026 Unity Cup tournament.\u00a0His impressive performances have now attracted serious interest from the Premier League.<\/p>\n

Crystal Palace’s interest intensified\u00a0with the expected departure of French defender Maxence Lacroix, which would leave\u00a0a\u00a0major\u00a0gap in the Eagles’ defence. The\u00a0Eagles have identified\u00a0Nwaiwu as an ideal replacement and have\u00a0now\u00a0approached Trabzonspor to explore a deal.<\/p>\n

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Maxence Lacroix of Crystal Palace. Copyright: xMikolajxBarbanellxImago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Nwaiwu is open to remaining in Turkey, the opportunity to play in the Premier League could be difficult to turn down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His next destination remains uncertain, but a move to England appears increasingly likely. Whether he joins Crystal Palace or Fulham may ultimately depend on which club is willing to meet Trabzonspor’s valuation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"<!--Ayomide Oguntimehin” src=”https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/ycGEJDr9VZlpO_5zujn3ZdvICxA=\/150×150\/smart\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2024%2F12%2FAyomide-Oguntimehin-pics.jpg” height=”80″ width=”80″>\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Chief Editor at Soccernet.ng. He has interviewed Super Eagles stars like William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, and Ademola Lookman, and is known for breaking major transfer stories.<\/p>\n

Ayomide has worked with Sports Brief, Naija News and served as Social Lead Editor at Legit.ng. He has also featured on Goal, TVC News, Sports Mole, and Milan News24. He holds a Master\u2019s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Follow Ayomide on X (formerly Twitter): @ayo_oguntimehin\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Paul Onuachu, Anthony Nwakaeme and Chibuike Nwaiwu at Trabzonspor. Photo Credit: IMAGO Premier League side Crystal Palace have entered the race to sign Chibuike Nwaiwu, setting up a transfer battle with fellow\u00a0English\u00a0club Fulham for the\u00a0signature of the Super Eagles defender, Soccernet.ng\u00a0reports. Fulham have been working on a deal for the 23-year-old throughout the summer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":922476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[653,2005,25640],"tags":[10179,7532],"class_list":["post-922475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crystal","category-soccer","category-transfer","tag-crystal","tag-transfer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}