Chairman helping negotiate £52m-plus transfer for Liverpool target as deal nears completion

July 23, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

Maxence Lacroix’s move to Chelsea is all but confirmed this summer.

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Ben Jacobs reports on X (formerly Twitter) – while crediting talkSPORT’s Alex Crook – that the Blues are ‘closing in on a deal’ to land the Crystal Palace centre-back. Eagles chairman Steve Parish is understood to have played a part in negotiations.

The expectation is that the previously Liverpool-linked defender will move on a transfer worth over £52m.

Liverpool set to miss out on Maxence Lacroix this summer

At a fee exceeding the £52m it took to bring Jan Paul van Hecke to Tottenham, we can understand why Liverpool might have been hesitant to throw their hat into the ring.

Assuming, of course, that Lacroix was even a potential option under consideration at L4 to begin with.

We have some doubts over that, given the 26-year-old isn’t quite as dominant in the air as one might like – particularly when compared to Liverpool’s starting centre-back duo last term.

* Maxence Lacroix compared to Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate in the 2025/26 Premier League season (Fotmob)

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But perhaps we’re being a little too harsh in that department, because both Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are considered elite in this particular category.

Liverpool still need an experienced body in

Our position on the matter of centre-back depth hasn’t changed.

Liverpool look set to demand a great deal from new boy Jeremy Jacquet, having never stepped foot in the Premier League previously in his career.

To make matters worse, his only backup (until Giovanni Leoni, who is way off being considered fully fit, according to Andoni Iraola, recovers from his injury) is an injury-prone Joe Gomez.

Look, we’re always going to be of the mind that the Reds should push to bring elite footballers to Anfield, and that’s perhaps even more pressing with Van Dijk’s contract set to expire next summer.

But at this point in time, we could do with taking some of the pressure off by bringing in a reliable body in the heart of defence. Think of the rough range between a Ragnar Klavan and a Joel Matip.

We can always answer the question of Virgil van Dijk’s long-term successor in another window. But right now, the priority surely has to be avoiding throwing Jacquet in the deep end without a life jacket.

Lacroix, even at a good £50m or so, would have offered some safety in that regard. A shame, then, that we’ve allowed Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea to move unobstructed here.