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The Guardian reports that Crystal Palace are closing in on the signature of Fiorentina striker Khouma Babacar in a £15 million deal.
The 24-year old Senegalese striker has scored 4 goals for the Serie A side this season, although his appearances have mainly been off the bench. However, Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is desperate to add to his striking options, and hopes that Babacar may reduce their reliance on Christian Benteke who has enjoyed a lean spell in front of goal so far this season, scoring just once in the Premier League.
For his part, Babacar, who has three full caps to his name for Senegal, is hoping that more regular first-team football will be enough to guarantee him a place in his national team’s squad for this year’s World Cup finals.
Babacar has been with Fiorentina since he was 15 years old, but now looks set to move to South London, although West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion are also said to be interested in the player.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.