Crystal Palace are stated to be on the verge of bringing Raphael le Guen to Selhurst Park.
It was Sami Mokbel of BBC Sport who first broke the information of Crystal Palace exhibiting curiosity within the 19-year-old, after agreeing to sell Maxence Lacroix to Chelsea in a £52m deal.
Since then, the saga has supposedly superior quickly, with sources claiming that {the teenager} was even at Copers Cope earlier on Friday to endure a medical and finalise a transfer to Selhurst Park.
It stays to be seen if that is the case, however within the meantime, let’s take a better have a look at Le Guen to see what he might provide Pierre Sage in SE25.
Lacroix to Chelsea is IMMINENT 🚨
Thoughts, Palace followers? 🤔
Meet Raphael le Guen: Brest’s 6ft 6in big who idolises Virgil van Dijk
Above all else, we now have to handle Le Guen’s top. The Brest No.71 definitely has the physique wanted to deal with the rigours of English soccer, standing at 6ft 6in and possessing an honest flip of tempo too.
Interestingly, the Crystal Palace goal solely turned a centre-back at U15 stage after a 10cm development spurt, having beforehand performed as a striker within the early levels of his profession.
After breaking into the Brest facet final season, Le Guen stated: “It’s only been five years since I’ve been a central defender, which is very little. I still have a lot to learn tactically, technically and in leadership.”
Despite that, the Frenchman – who the official Ligue 1 web site claimed idolises Virgil van Dijk – definitely appears to be doing one thing proper after catching the attention of Crystal Palace.
Le Guen coincidentally made his Ligue 1 debut towards Sage final season, enjoying the ultimate 4 minutes as Brest suffered a 3-1 loss to RC Lens again in August 2025. He needed to wait till March to function once more in France’s prime flight, enjoying 9 minutes of a 3-0 loss to Auxerre.
It all appeared to click on for Le Guen after that, as he began the ultimate 4 matches in Ligue 1 to finish the 2025/26 marketing campaign, enjoying each minute of these 4 video games, together with a shocking show in a 1-0 loss to UEFA Champions League winners PSG.
The right-footed Crystal Palace goal additionally boasts management qualities, having captained the reserve facet at Brest on a number of events, and has expertise of enjoying in central midfield too.
It stays to be seen how a lot Le Guen will price Crystal Palace, however the teenager is not believed to be considered as a right away alternative for Lacroix – he is stated to be seen as one for the long run, with Chadi Riad, Jaydee Canvot and Chris Richards set to begin the season in defence collectively.
- Full identify: Raphael Marc Le Guen
- Age: 19
- Date of start: 1 September 2006
- Height: 1.98m (6ft 6in)
- Nationality: French
- Club: Brest
- Position: Centre-back
