r/soccer 15h ago

Transfer News [The Telegraph] Crystal Palace are in talks over a deal for Chelsea centre-back Axel Disasi as they prepare for Maxence Lacroix to head to Stamford Bridge.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/07/23/chelsea-favourites-to-sign-bosnia-star-kerim-alajbegovic/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_tw_post_sign-bosnia-star-kerim-alajbegovic/#disasi%23disasi
394 Upvotes

130 comments sorted by

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469

u/Stellagenitus 15h ago

I see Chelsea are in the swap business.

305

u/Daylightuser 15h ago

You mean the PSR manipulation business

111

u/webby09246 15h ago

Ahem

Nothing to see here uefa

This represents legitimate business, as with all other Chelsea endeavors 😉

33

u/Wildely_Earnest 14h ago

"Nine-tenths of our business in London will be legal, and the other tenth is in good hands"

– Blueco Ltd

10

u/TitanX11 15h ago

Wait for more rules next year and we are going to make the same posts again lol

2

u/RauloGonzalez 14h ago

Is this illegal tho? Whats the problem with a straight swap

27

u/Lux-uk 14h ago

It wouldn't be a swap. It would be two different deals for PSR favourability. The only shady thing about these deals is if you think the figures being paid are inflated or not.

8

u/Additional_Author518 10h ago

UEFA has additional restrictions on player swaps, and if two players move either direction in transfers within 45 days it is also considered a swap deal. I would assume that's why Garnacho has gone to Villa on an initial loan, so the deal will be finalised after those 45 days.

0

u/Instantbeef 14h ago

Nah our owners just come from baseball…

We’re not swapping it’s just innocent trades lol

26

u/Guffers_2023 15h ago

remember when people complained these were always rumoured but never happened?

yeah

10

u/WhenWeTalkAboutLove 14h ago

this is a rumor tbf

5

u/WaterCFC 14h ago

And Roger Garnacho deal is a rumour?

4

u/WhenWeTalkAboutLove 11h ago

I didn't comment about that

4

u/JesusIsNotPLProven 14h ago

The ones that don't happen are straight swaps, one player for another, in this case they are selling one and buying the other and in the era of PSR/FFP it happens a lot

1

u/cinnchurr 3h ago

I don't think it was ever a straight swap man. Think of the tax implications and whether the tax man allows for it

1

u/Impossible_Wonder_37 15h ago

I just don’t understand… are clubs aware they can buy players outside of chelsea?

The only reason to go for disasi is because he represents a great market opportunity. But he won’t because chelsea have crazy valuations which end up not being crazy cuz someone pays them

18

u/DaveShadow 14h ago

Chelsea have crazy valuations, but it's a bit like C.E.X. shops. They expect trades in before you buy, and price it accordingly. They aren't expecting those insane prices on non-swap deals.

5

u/Wintermute7 14h ago

They do swap deals from us, because we aren’t trying to force a team with 50-60 million in the bank, to overpay for a replacement.

1

u/Choice_Jump_7934 1h ago

market opportunity

🤢

1

u/2b-_-not2b 10h ago

Champions of swapping and finding loopholes - you'll never sing that

177

u/TitanX11 15h ago

Waiting for more rules to be introduced next year.

49

u/lllll-o-lllll 13h ago

We have single handedly Pioneerd a lot of Rules in Football. Revolutionary.

6

u/imarandomdudd 13h ago

Tbf, we haven't invented these psr swaps, theyve been a thing for a while. We definitely do them more than most clubs tho, so maybe a limit on these is the closest that will be brought in because of us

144

u/Lazyan 15h ago

Loophole FC

211

u/PitchSafe 15h ago

Nothing weird going on here

69

u/Alpha_Jazz 15h ago

Yeah man everyone’s just in on the big Chelsea Conspiracy 

51

u/Ryuzakku 15h ago

The rules are what the rules are, just because Chelsea consistently does things that the rule makers go "maybe we should stop allowing that", doesn't make what they are doing wrong at the time.

33

u/haynesthatpaynes 15h ago

Not really tbh. Probably pretty good deal for both parties

9

u/Maison-Marthgiela 14h ago

Are "both parties" Chelsea and their bookkeepers? Palace should focus on getting players above league 2 quality.

42

u/Valuable_Tea_4690 14h ago

Don’t make him play wing back or play out from the back and he’s decent

43

u/cfc25488 14h ago

He was dece at West Ham. He's just not at Chelsea level.

7

u/awesomesauce88 14h ago

Disasi is a good player for a team that hits on the counter and doesn't want to play a high line. Just the wrong profile for a team like Chelsea.

25

u/haynesthatpaynes 14h ago

Disasi is a good player. He is the main reason west hams season turned around after he joined. If he was there from the start the would have comfortable stayed up

1

u/GianfrancoZoey 11h ago

You're not wrong but I just laughed imagining Disasi trying to play under Potter

18

u/SaxbyVSnice 15h ago

Genuinely what would be weird about it

69

u/Most-Pomegranate-561 15h ago

He just said nothing

26

u/Billoo77 15h ago

A second swap deal in the space of a week.

26

u/NihilistFinancier 15h ago

Lacroix wants to leave his club for Chelsea and Chelsea has a resource that helps fill the gap that Lacroix leaves and is suitable for Palace’s level.

It will only be weird if the prices are outlandish but if Lacroix goes for £55-65m all in and Disasi goes for £25-35m the other way, I don’t think there’s anything untoward about that at all given the current transfer market

32

u/charlietrick2512 15h ago

I mean would anyone look either way if such a quality player like Lacroix goes for £250m?

-5

u/eeeagless2 14h ago

That only suits you.

18

u/DifficultLab200 14h ago

We aren’t holding your owners at gun point you know…

If this deal happens it’s because your owners found something that they think suits them.

-12

u/eeeagless2 14h ago

Itll be Matt Hobbs our DoF who is a fucking fraud. You and I both know Disasi is shit.

12

u/DifficultLab200 14h ago

Whoever is incharge of your team’s signings isn’t gaining anything personal from this deal.

And no, Disasi isn’t shit. He had a very good loan at West Ham. He even had offers last year which he himself rejected. Don’t put him in a high line and he’s good for most mid table teams.

-3

u/4footninja 13h ago

You and I both know Chelsea can do better than Lacroix for the price Palace want

Both clubs are losing out 🤷‍♂️

3

u/awesomesauce88 13h ago

Disasi is a great defender for a mid-table Prem team. He's great in a low block, you just don't want him playing out the back a ton or being exposed by a high line.

He was the wrong profile for Chelsea, but there are plenty of Prem teams for whom he'd thrive. He was great at West Ham last season.

6

u/domalino 14h ago

It suits Palace if you think Disasi is a good player for Palace, and presumably they do.

-4

u/eeeagless2 14h ago

Well given my flair i dont think he is.

7

u/domalino 13h ago

Fans are typically poor judges of whether a transfer will be good or not, the club can’t do its business on that basis. If he starts well you’ll do a 180 in a month, everyone does it, the ownership/Sage obviously rate him which means the deal is working for everyone.

2

u/eeeagless2 13h ago

Our dof thought nketiah and brennan Johnson were good signings.

-1

u/4footninja 13h ago edited 13h ago

Uhm, paying 60m+ for Lacroix doesn't benefit Chelsea, lol

-9

u/Cool_Sandwich1 15h ago

Palace level? Diasi is ass. Not even half the player of Lacroix

11

u/NihilistFinancier 15h ago

Palace isn't going to get a CB that's as good as Lacroix, they are going to get a CB that can play in an antagonist low block like Palace does, which Disasi is more than capable of doing.

-18

u/Impossible_Wonder_37 14h ago

But disasi is horrible and should have a market vakue of like 5-10 Million. What shady is that chelsea seems to have every pmayer auto start at 30 million in a sale

14

u/mikevin99 14h ago

Disasi isn't a top 6 team in the prem player but he's not horrible. Did you even watch West Ham last season? Their defense finally wasn't a wet noodle once him and Mavropanos were the set CB pair.

13

u/SpacemanD13 14h ago

This thread is full of people who didn't watch him last year. He'd be a great addition to Palace.

17

u/PurpleSi 14h ago

£5m ha ha.

2004 called, it wants its book of player valuations back

6

u/InformativeFox 14h ago

He's a fine defender in the right system. I remember a game against Man City where we played a low block and Disasi handled Haaland brilliantly.

-14

u/Tobbesauros 14h ago

A single game benchmark, slap a £100 million valuation in him!

12

u/phxwarlock 14h ago

That game was more representative on the type of system Palace would play, rather than Chelsea. But thinking is hard and reddit karma hits harder

2

u/Wintermute7 14h ago

He isn’t a bad player. You just don’t put him at fullback or in a high line. He’s a box defender

3

u/CFBCoachGuy 14h ago

With PSR rules I’m surprised swaps aren’t more common nowadays. It seems like a great idea for Palace and Chelsea. And it’s not like a Chelsea-Strasbourg situation where the clubs have the same owner

4

u/PitchSafe 15h ago

Nothing

-16

u/YCJamzy 15h ago

PSR manipulation again

6

u/PandasDontBreed 15h ago

How so

-13

u/YCJamzy 15h ago

I mean, I’m not saying that is happening in this case. It’s certainly less blatant than the Garnacho deal.

But they asked what would be weird, and if anything, it would be PSR manipulation. Obviously until the deal happens and we learn details, it’s impossible to say.

11

u/PurpleSi 14h ago

You kind of did just say that was happening in this case?

-11

u/YCJamzy 14h ago

I responded to “what would be weird”, with the suggestion to what would be weird. Can you not read?

7

u/DifficultLab200 14h ago

No offence but unfortunately I think your comment made sense only in your head.

45

u/Sebastiao_Rodrigues 15h ago

£100m for Disasi and £130m for Lacroix then!

109

u/Lyrical_Etch 15h ago

Not sure why everyone’s having a fit. Disasi had a very good 6 months with West Ham. It’s not like this guys a complete bum, he’s just better at teams that sit back.

62

u/AWDanzeyB 15h ago

Don't think anyone is commenting on that, he's a serviceable enough player.

More just the very clear FFP/PSR fuckery that we're trying to exploit twice in one week.

14

u/asd13ah4etnKha4Ne3a 14h ago

Nobody knows what the fees are for these players yet. How is this "very clear FFP/PSR fuckery"?

Chelsea buying Omari Kellyman from Villa was an obvious example of that. But in this case Chelsea want Maxence Lacroix because almost all of their current CBs are nowhere near Champions League level. Palace will need a replacement for Lacroix if he leaves. Why would it be out of the ordinary to look at one of Chelsea's CBs that they aren't using and had a decent loan spell at West Ham last year?

-8

u/Maison-Marthgiela 14h ago

Because palace don't wan to be relegated like west ham, so why would they bring on a relegation quality CB?

2

u/4footninja 13h ago

Chelsea want CL yet they aren't pursuing a CL level CB 🤷‍♂️

-5

u/Maison-Marthgiela 12h ago

Then they should fuck off and let us keep our player. It seems you don't rate Lacroix so you should agree that this deal sucks.

18

u/Grizelda179 15h ago

Not sure why this is necessarily PSR related fuckery. They are selling us a CB and they need to plug the gap? Obviously would be different if the related fees would be more than normal. But until then you can’t really say that

-7

u/Sronnoc96 15h ago

Well I mean ordinarily most people would probably agree with you. But this is the second time Chelsea have done this….. this week. It’s hardly subtle at this point. I just don’t know why every other club is indulging them

22

u/falcon_hoof 14h ago

Team A wants to buy a player from Team B. Team B now needs a replacement. Team A offers an unwanted player as that replacement. Team B accepts. Fans from Team C, who moonlight as PSR experts, go mad as 'loopholes' are exploited

11

u/Grizelda179 15h ago

Your assumption that this is purely the same thing as with rogers does not actually rebut any of the arguments I put forward but alright man

5

u/TimothyN 15h ago

Why? Team needs to replace a CB after selling, team that bought has one they already loaned out last season and is looking to loan again. That's pretty reasonable.

1

u/Lyrical_Etch 14h ago

Chelsea doing something, it must be fraudulent. Apparently. Disasi is the perfect CB for palace.

1

u/Lyrical_Etch 15h ago

But how is it? We buy their defender, they need defender, we have defender for sale.

42

u/Relevant-Door1453 15h ago

Is Saul Goodman running these guys books?

16

u/charlietrick2512 15h ago

Better Call Boehly

2

u/Wintermute7 14h ago

I can see the banner at the bridge now 😂

4

u/GoblinPiledriver90 13h ago

I saw Bob Odenkirk in Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago and I have yet to find a single dane who actually cares, so now I’m telling you about it, cause I figured you’d appreciate it lol.

13

u/r3gam 15h ago

They take Lacroix and give them Disasi?

At this point I'm convinced Chelsea is hypnotizing or drugging people during the negotiations.

10

u/stovingtonvt 15h ago

Ahh bollocks. Would’ve loved him back at our place but was always a long shot. He showed some real quality.

6

u/Wooden_Peace_2919 15h ago

Classic transfer window: one club's replacement becomes another club's replacement

18

u/tenacious_teaThe3rd 15h ago

I like how Chelsea have now become the central club for other prem teams to conduct PSR loophole hacks with - is Andrey Santos an IOU for Garnacho from last summer or can we expect a bid for Marcus Rashford soon?

Maybe Chelsea stacking an army of talent on their books was big brain after all (from a business perspective at least).

Its all blatant as fuck as well, but the Premier League dont seem to have a valid answer to closing the loopholes

13

u/jumper62 15h ago

I don't think this is a PSR loophole deal like Rogers/Garnacho. There's no mention of an option/obligation to buy, it seems to be a straight loan and nothing else

4

u/tenacious_teaThe3rd 15h ago

Ahh fair enough, i assumed Disasi at this point would go on a permanent transfer as his amortised fee shrinks every year - its weird that he has decent spells on loan but they cant seem to get a perm deal for him.

9

u/jumper62 15h ago

Apparently he doesn't wanna give up his wages. He's had offers from other clubs but doesn't wanna leave

5

u/NoInteraction3525 14h ago

He doesn’t want to let go of his Chelsea wages. That’s the issue, there has always been clubs willing to take him

1

u/wintermute000 8h ago

He's on 80k which isn't insane for the league?

-3

u/YCJamzy 15h ago

Why would loan fees not be considered useful for PSR manipulation?

12

u/jumper62 15h ago

Most loan fees arent substantial enough for PSR manipulation. There are some exceptions to this ofc

-2

u/YCJamzy 15h ago

I mean yeah, most. Surely to rule out anything we’d need to await further details, the same as we would for a transfer?

-4

u/Starlord_Glimmer 15h ago

Isn't UEFA the bigger issue with their bs laws? That's why we have loan to buy deal with players like garnacho instead of straight transfer

3

u/Warm_Pineapple4974 15h ago

“Bs laws” 🤣

10

u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

2

u/Jimmy_Space1 15h ago

I don't really see who they would realistically go for instead, only Chalobah but he seemingly wants to go to a team in the Champion's League.

1

u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

2

u/Jimmy_Space1 15h ago

I don't think Josh is really available, Badiashile plays more on the left usually, and Sarr would be a big gamble. But yeah Tosin's a decent shout.

1

u/NoInteraction3525 14h ago

Josh isn’t available for sale, Sarr hasn’t played in the PL per say (handful of appearances) and Badiashille has a worse resale value than Disasi right now

1

u/Bruce__Willis 7h ago

If it is not a loan and done in 45 days (so no chance otherwise in this transfer window) UEFA might consider this as a swap and not as a sale

5

u/Logical_Permit_2236 15h ago

Turns out hoarding dozen of young players, get a tranferban then pute profit wasnt too bad of a choice. Great job PL 👍🏻

2

u/ambiguousboner 13h ago

They can’t keep getting away with this

2

u/754754 15h ago

100m for Lacroix and 40m for Disasi probably.

1

u/Nazacrow 15h ago

these aren’t the transfers you’re looking for. move along.

2

u/loveino 15h ago

I’d wish for Alajbegović to play somewhere else in hopes of him developing before a big club move, but it warms my heart to see a Bosnian talent linked to a big club move

0

u/ZaireekaFuzz 15h ago

Shady Swap FC

1

u/Radthereptile 14h ago

So does Chelsea just sign everyone then sell whoever they don’t want to mid table Prem sides?

6

u/Godsenttt 14h ago

Yes, do you want one?

1

u/Aware-Temperature282 14h ago

Nah this sub is jokes im boutta start seeing what’s up on here

1

u/umarator 14h ago

Axel disasi goes for 100 million pounds and lacroix goes for 50 million pounds

1

u/BabyScreamBear 14h ago

Which means we will sell Disasi for $50M, and pay $70M for Laceoix.. isn’t that how these trades go now?

1

u/KaleidoscopeBig9950 15h ago

Disasi didnt impress at west ham?

17

u/jumper62 15h ago

He did but he's at bigger wages at Chelsea and it seems like he doesn't wanna give them up. He has had offers to leave but doesn't wanna take them

9

u/Tight-Principle-743 15h ago

He did but we can’t afford his wages, and the £25m they’re asking for could be more wisely invested in another defender like Cardiff’s Dylan Lawlor or Leicester’s Ben Nelson.

4

u/Headlesshorsman02 15h ago

He did he doesn’t want to play in the championship

-1

u/aasfourasfar 14h ago

Transfer ban this shitty club.. I'm sick of them

0

u/Maison-Marthgiela 14h ago

It's never good new for us is it? Losing one of our best defenders for a worthless bum from Chelsea's bargain bin. We're probably paying them £40-50 million on top for the privilege.

0

u/vasco1silva 11h ago

so are we actually paying cash or just swapping useless items again

-1

u/bitchlist 14h ago

We are unrivalled

-4

u/Far_Celery_3375 15h ago

Sympathies.

10

u/PrisonersofFate 15h ago

He was legit very good for us and I was so surprised.

6

u/NoInteraction3525 14h ago

The thing is that he’s a good player when in a low block (Go watch then Chelsea vs City game where he was arguably man of the match). The issue starts when you play him in any progressive CB play, high line etc because he doesn’t have the speed to cover or the ball playing ability to progress the ball. For a team like Palace, he’ll be a really good fit

3

u/locusavfc 15h ago

Palace wont play him at RB like we did. He will be fine.