Chelsea ready £35m and Tosin Adarabioyo for Lacroix as Palace exit lines up
Chelsea have an offer ready for Maxence Lacroix, and Crystal Palace have already taken their goodbye picture. The French centre-back played what is being reported as his final game at Selhurst Park earlier in May, with multiple sources confirming a summer exit is in the pipeline. Chelsea want him as the headline name in a defensive rebuild and are willing to bundle a player into the deal to get him.
The current proposal from Stamford Bridge is around £35 million in cash with Tosin Adarabioyo going the other way, a player-plus-cash structure designed to soften Palace's resistance on price. Other versions of the bid put the cash piece closer to €40 million. Palace have set their minimum somewhere in the £52 million to £60 million range. The contract on the table runs until 2029 with no release clause, which leaves the sellers holding the leverage that matters in a window.
Why Chelsea see Lacroix as a fit
Lacroix has 28 Premier League appearances this season, 10 clean sheets, a goal and two assists in a Palace back line that took 45 points and a finish in the safe half of the table. He averages 1.85 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per 90, with high clearance volume and a strong passing record. He is also being labelled the fastest centre-back in the league this season, a number that matters to a Chelsea side that have lived on a high line and counted on recovery pace at the back.
The Frenchman turned 26 in April. He arrived at Selhurst Park from Wolfsburg in August 2024 for around €18 million, a five-year deal until 2029, and slotted straight into the senior partnership Oliver Glasner has leaned on. The two had worked together at Wolfsburg before. By his own preference he wants to push his case for the France squad, and a move to a Champions League side is the lever he is choosing to pull.
Where the deal stands
Palace would rather sell at their price than tie Lacroix to a new deal. The hierarchy at Selhurst Park has already taken inquiries from Aston Villa and Liverpool earlier in May, but Chelsea are the side that have moved to a concrete offer. The Tosin Adarabioyo piece of the bid is the one Palace are weighing the hardest. Adarabioyo would land at Selhurst on his existing terms, a 28-year-old centre-back who arrived at Stamford Bridge on a free from Fulham in July 2024 and slipped behind the senior pair this season, with limited starts in the Premier League.
The window opens on June 15. Lacroix still has Crystal Palace's Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig to play first, and Palace will take a European trophy out of his last week at the club if they win it. That game is on Wednesday night. Whatever happens at the Red Bull Arena, the next time Lacroix walks into a Premier League stadium in pre-season, the bet is on it being in Stamford Bridge blue.
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