Crystal Palace transfer news: Eagles hoping to beat Tottenham and Newcastle to £20m signing of Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun

CRYSTAL PALACE hope to fend off competition from other Premier League clubs to sign Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun in the January window.

Several Premier League clubs including Tottenham and Newcastle have watched Tosun in action in recent weeks, but he tops Palace’s list of transfer targets.

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According to reports, Palace have started to put together a January recruitment strategy in the hopes new signing can breath fresh life into the Selhurst Park.

Roy Hodgson is keen to secure the striker, according to the Daily Mail, who is valued at £20 million.

Hodgson has said that Palace’s sporting director, Dougie Freeman, is working on potential transfer targets and transfers.

When asked when whether the Eagle’s loss to Championship club Bristol City midweek in the Carabao Cup displayed the need for January signings he said:

“The only honest and fair answer to that is yes.

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Roy Hodgson has only won one Premier League games with Crystal Palace[/caption]

“I think Doug Freedman, since he was brought into the club a couple of weeks before they brought me in, has been working on that.

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Christian Benteke will be out of action for the next four weeks[/caption]

“He is working on meeting with our current scouting set-up and people we use.

‘He’s starting to collate information they’ve obviously been collecting for other managers then he intends to sit down with me and the owners of the club and we’ll see what is possible to do.

‘But yes, the January transfer window will be an important transfer window. Not just for Crystal Palace, but also probably for another half dozen clubs who like ourselves, find themselves staring at the abyss that relegation these days is.’

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Tosun scored 24 goals for Besiktas last season[/caption]

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Tosun has made no secret of his desire to play in the Premier League and has just one year left on his contract in Istanbul.

He joined Besiktas in 2014 and was instrumental in securing their place in the Champions League last season.

With Christian Benteke ruled out for at least four weeks by a knee ligament injury, the 26-year-old could provide some much-needed goals for Palace who have only scored four goals in the league this season.

He has scored seven goal for Besiktas in 15 matches, so far, this term.