🚨REPORT :Warnock wanted crystal palace to sign future £75m star for just £3m they got fryers instead

Crystal Palace’s employment in recent years has allowed the club to cement their place as a regular mid-table fixture in the Premier League.

   While it may have been a huge disappointment to lose starlet Michael Olise in the summer, his move to European giants Bayern Munich highlights just how impressive their transfer business has been in recent seasons.

   The Frenchman moved to Selhurst Park in an £8m deal from then-Championship side Reading and made a huge impact in the Eagles’ first team – scoring 16 goals in his 90 appearances for the club.

   Olise subsequently left Palace in a £50m deal this summer – which saw the club make a £42m profit over three years – helping them invest in the next young player and hopefully re-sign for 22  – of the year.

   But despite recent success in the transfer market, the Eagles have previously failed to make key additions, leading to the signing of a player who never lived up to the hype in south London.

   Zeki Fryer’s time at Crystal Palace

   Left-back Zeki Fryers moved to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2014/15 in a £3million deal from second-tier side Tottenham Hotspur – arriving with real promise after his time at White Hart Lane.

   However, the youngster failed to impress at Selhurst Park, making just two appearances during his debut campaign for the club.

   He was sent out on two separate loans to Ipswich Town and Championship side Rotherham in the same season before enjoying his most successful season with the Eagles in 2016/17.

   Fritöser made 12 appearances for Sam Allardyce’s side, making 466 minutes across the campaign – further highlighting his lack of impact during his time at Selhurst Park.

   The aforementioned season would be his last at the club, on a free transfer when his contract expired, and he made just 14 first-team appearances in total over a three-year period.

   A deal for the full-back looks even more unpalatable, especially considering the club have targeted a talent who has been highly successful in the Premier League.

   The Palace man decided not to sign a contract in 2014

   Centre-back Virgil van Dijk has established himself as one of the best defenders in English Premier League history following his £75m move to Liverpool in 2018.

   The Dutch international has won just about everything there is to win in England, including the Premier League title and various League Cup and FA Cup trophies.

   The 33-year-old has made 276 appearances for the Reds, helping the club achieve the unthinkable under Jürgen Klopp with his dominance at the back.

   However, the Eagles had the chance to sign the ace in 2014/15 under Neil Warnock but turned down the chance to sign the defender while he was on Celtic duty north of the border.

   Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Warnock said: “He was at Celtic, I was at Palace, I sent [a scout] to watch him at Celtic and he came back and said, ‘he’s going to do it for us’.”

   “I told Steve Parish and the statisticians that I wanted to sign Van Dijk for £3m. Parish, like all other presidents, trusts the statistics and he said, ‘we don’t think he’s fast enough for the Premier League’.”