Chelsea have reached an agreement with Crystal Palace to sign defender Maxence Lacroix, with the 26-year-old France international granting permission for the transfer to be completed.

Palace had sought a fee of around £55 million for Lacroix, a benchmark informed by the sum Tottenham paid Brighton for Jan Paul van Hecke. Lacroix joined the south London club from Wolfsburg in 2024 and played a key role as Crystal Palace won both the FA Cup and the UEFA Conference League.

Chelsea offer Palace choice of defenders

As part of the negotiations, Chelsea have offered Crystal Palace the opportunity to discuss signing one of the Blues' own defenders currently available for transfer. There has been reported interest from other clubs in Axel Disasi, Trevoh Chalobah, and Benoit Badiashile.

The two London clubs have a strong working relationship, having previously exchanged players including Chalobah and Ben Chilwell.

Palace's search for defensive cover

Crystal Palace have been actively pursuing centre-back reinforcements since January, when Marc Guehi departed for Manchester City. Among those on their radar have been Charlie Cresswell of Toulouse, Ruben Kluivert of Lyon, and Trabzonspor's Chibuke Nwaiwu — a player also of interest to Fulham.

Palace had been focusing their efforts on Augsburg's Chrislain Matsima, but Sky Sports News understands they are now willing to walk away from that pursuit after growing frustrated with the pace of negotiations.

Chelsea's summer transfer activity

The Lacroix deal adds to a busy window for Chelsea. Among their arrivals are Geovany Quenda from Sporting for £43.5 million, Marco Palestra from Atalanta for £43 million, and Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117 million. Emmanuel Emegha has also joined from Strasbourg for an undisclosed fee, alongside Denner from Corinthians for £8.7 million and Dastan Satpaev from Kairat Almaty for £2.1 million.

On the outgoing side, Marc Cucurella has moved to Real Madrid for £51.8 million, Andrey Santos has joined Manchester United for £50 million, and Tyrique George has signed for Everton for £24 million. Jimmy-Jay Morgan has departed for West Brom for £4 million.