Crystal Palace make move for former Liverpool defender

 

Crystal Palace are sounding out a potential move for Schalke centre-back Ozan Kabak, claims The Daily Mail.

 

Kabak spent the second half of last season on loan at Liverpool but Jurgen Klopp's side have turned down the chance to sign him permanently.

 

Liverpool had an option to make the switch full-time for £18m and then Schalke even offered him to the Reds for £8.5m earlier this month.

 

However, Liverpool instead signed RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate in a £35m deal and have Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk all returning from injury.

 

Schalke are desperate to offload Kabak and his wages after they were relegated from the Bundesliga last season.

 

The German outfit have struggled to find any suitors so far this summer but Palace have now earmarked the Turkey international as a potential target.

 

Palace need to bolster their squad this summer after letting nine first-team players leave on frees last month, including three centre-backs.

 

Mamadou Sakho, Scott Dann and Gary Cahill have all left the club, though Palace are in contract talks with the latter.

 

 

Patrick Vieira's side have already snapped up highly rated Chelsea defender Marc Guehi in a deal worth around £20m and are now eyeing a cut-price move for Kabak. 

 

Despite his imposing stature, Kabak actually struggled to stamp his authority in the air for Liverpool last season.

 

In fact, Marcus Rashford (56.8%) remarkably won a greater proportion of his aerial duels than Kabak (56.5%) in the Premier League last term.